Iberoes  of  tbe  IRations 


EDITED  BY 

Swelien  Bbbott,  flB.H. 

FELLOW  OF  BALLIOL  COLLEGE,  OXFORD 


FACT*     DUCI8    VIVENT,     OPEROSAQUE 
SLORIA    RERUM.— OVID,    IN  LIVIAM,    265. 


HENRY  OF  NAVARRE 


2  7  8  4      5   f 


HENRY   IV. 
FROM   A  CONTEMPORARY    PAINTING   IN   THE  MUSEUM  AT  VERSAILLES. 


HENRY  OF  NAVARRE 


AND 


THE   HUGUENOTS   IN    FRANCE 


BY 

P.  F.  WILLERT,  M.A. 

FELLOW  OF  EXETER  COLLEtiE,  OXFORD 


"Truly  your  great  enemy  is  the  Spaniard.  He  is  naturally  so,  he  is 
naturally  so  throughout — by  reason  of  that  enmity  that  is  in  him  against 
whatsoever  is  of  God." — Oliver  Cromwell. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
Sbe   'Knicherbocher    press 


309'^" 


o 


Copyright,  i8c3,  bv 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 

^EUt^ereji  at  ^StationerA'  H^U^Lpo^mi 


ttbe  Itniclierbocher  press,  Hew  B?orll 


CONTENTS. 


II.— 


J(III. 
IV.- 

v.- 

VI.- 
VII.- 

4  VIII. 

IX- 


THE  REFORMATION  IN  FRANCE — THE  WARS 
OF  RELIGION  BEFORE  THE  DEATH  OF 
CONDE    (1512-1569) I 

THE  PARENTAGE   OF    HENRY   OF  BOURBON 

HIS  EDUCATION  AND  MARRIAGE — ST.  BAR- 
THOLOMEW— THE  PEACE  OF  MONSIEUR 
(1555-1576) 44 

-HENRY     OF     NAVARRE     THE     PROTECTOR    OF 

THE    CHURCHES    (1576-1586)       .  .  .       Ill 

•THE    THREE    HENRYS  (1585-1589)  .  .       I49 

•CAN     A     HERETIC     BE      KING      OF      FRANCE  ? 

(i589-'592) 183 

■THE  KING  GOES  TO  MASS,  AND  ENTERS  PARIS 

(1592-1595) 247 

OPEN  WAR  WITH  SPAIN — PEACE  WITH  FOR- 
EIGN AND  DOMESTIC  ENEMIES THE  EDICT 

OF  NANTES  (1595-1598)      ....       292 

-THE  REORGANISATION  OF  THE  MONARCHY 
(1598-1610) 347 

•THE     DIVORCE     AND    SECOND    MARRIAGE    OF 

THE  KING  (1598-1601)         ....       378 
iii 


IV 


Contents. 


CHAFTEU  I'AGE 

X. WAR     WITH      SAVOY SPANISH     INTRIGUES 

CONSPIRACIES     OF     BIRON     AND      THE      EN- 
TRAGUES  (1599-1609)  ....       399 

XL  — COMPLICATIONS  IN  GERMANY  —  PREPARA- 
TIONS FOR  WAR  —  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE 
KING   (1609-1610)        .....       428 


GENEALOGICAL    TABLES 
HOUSE   OF   LORRAINE 
HOUSE   OF   BOURBON-VENDdME 


.  fating  page      464 
•        "  "         465 


INDEX 


465 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PORTRAIT    OF    HENRY    IV.       FROM  A  CONTEMPORARY 

PAINTING    IN    MUSEUM    AT    VERSAILLES,      FrOJltispicce 
PORTRAIT    OF    ADMIRAL    COLIGNY      .  .  .  .         6o 

MEDAL    OF    CHARLES   IX.  STRUCK  TO  COMMEMORATE 

THE   MASSACRE    OF   ST.    BARTHOLOMEW       .  .  78 

MEDAL  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  STRUCK  TO  COMMEMORATE 

THE    MASSACRE    OF    ST.    BARTHOLOMEW       .  .         78 

PORTRAIT    OF    HENRY    III 92 

PORTRAIT    OF    CHARLES    IX.        FROM    THE    PAINTING 

BY    F.    CLOUET  .  ......       lOO 

PORTRAIT    OF    CATHERINE    DE'    MEDICI       ,  .  .       146 

FAC-SIMILE    OF    THE    WRITING    OF    HENRY    IV.    .  .       152 

PORTRAIT    OF    DUKE    HI  XRV    OF    GUISE.       FROM  THE 

PAINTING    BY    F.    CLOUET  ....       J70 

PORTRAIT    OF    HENRY    IV.  .  ,  .  .  .       2l6 

ENTRANCE     OF     HENRY     IV.     INTO      PARIS     (bY     THE 
NEW     gate).        FROM     A     CONTEMPORARY     EN- 
GRAVING   OF    A    PAINTING    BY    N.    BOLLERY  .       282 
EXIT    OF     THE      SPANIARDS     FROM     PARIS     (bY     THE 
ST.     DENIS     gate).       FROM     A     CONTEMPORARY 
ENGRAVING          .......       284 

PORTRAIT    OF    MARGARET    OF    VALOIS         .  .  .       380 

PORTRAIT     OF      MARY       OF      MEDICI.  FROM      THE 

PAINTING     BY    F.    PORBUS     IN     PRADO     MUSEUM 
IN    MADRID  ....'..       394 

DEATH    MASK    TAKEN    FROM    FACE    OF    HENRY    IV.      .       454 

V 


HENRY  OF   NAVARRE 

AND  THE  HUGUENOTS  IN  FRANCE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE     REFORMATION     IN     FRANCE — THE     WARS     OF 
RELIGION   BEFORE   THE   DEATH    OF   CONDE. 

1 5 12-1569. 

iRENCH  historians,  anxious  to  vindicate- 
in  all  things  the  priority  of  their  na- 
tion, point  out  that  in  15 12,  five  years 
before  Luther  denounced  the  sale  of 
indulgences,  Lefevre,  a  lecturer  on 
theology  and  letters  at  Paris,  published 
a  commentary  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  in  which 
he  taught  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 

But  an  isolated  theologian  might  deny  the  efficacy 
of  good  works  without  danger  to  the  established 
system,  so  long  as  the  logical  consequences  of  such 
doctrine  were  not  pressed  vigorously  home  against 


2  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti5i2- 

the  abuses  of  Rome.  Lefevre  had  nothing  of  the 
passionate  activity  of  a  successful  reformer ;  his 
teaching  produced  little  effect  till  the  minds  of 
men  were  stirred  by  the  great  events  taking  place 
in  Germany.  \ 

Lefevre  and  his  friends  did  little  more  than  give 
expression  to  the  general  desire  that  the  Church 
should  be  reformed  from  within.  They  were  sup- 
ported by  the  sympathy  of  the  scholars  and  men  of 
letters  who  had  long  been  engaged  in  a  bitter  quarrel 
with  the  monkish  pedants,  to  whom  the  system  and 
the  maxims  of  the  schoolmen  were  not  less  sacred 
than  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Church. 

The  false  renderings,  the  spurious  documents,  the 
historical  frauds  and  obsolete  philosophy,  on  which 
the  Catholic  theologians  of  the  day  relied,  hardly 
allowed  a  learned  man  to  be  orthodox. 

But  these  cultivated  men  had  not  the  fervour  and 
their  doctrine  lacked  the  emphasis  needed  to  stir 
popular  enthusiasm ;  the  real  impulse  to  the  Refor- 
mation in  France  was  given  by  men  of  more  decided 
views,  who  at  first,  with  the  exception  of  Farel,  a 
friend  of  Lefevre,  belonged  to  a  lower  class. 

The  growth  of  heresy  did  not  escape  the  notice  of 
the  University  of  Paris,  the  acknowledged  judge  and 
champion  of  orthodoxy  throughout  Latin  Christen- 
dom. In  the  14th  century  the  University  had  in- 
terfered in  politics  with  the  authority  of  a  Fourth 
Estate  and  had  lectured  kings  and  princes.  In  the 
15th  century  at  the  Councils  of  Constance  and  Basle 
its  doctors  had  been  the  acknowledged  leaders  of  the 
Western  Church.     As  if  foreseeing  the  approaching 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  3 

struggle,  the  faculty  of  theology,  the  Sorbonne,  as  it 
was  called  from  the  name  of  the  College  founded  by 
Lewis  IX.  for  the  support  of  the  teachers  of  divinity, 
appointed  a  permanent  committee  to  watch  over  the 
purity  of  the  faith. 

Heresy  was  in  France  an  offence  against  the  Com- 
mon Law,  and  those  accused  of  it  were  tried  before 
the  ordinary  courts  of  justice ;  but  these  courts 
never  entered  into  the  question  of  what  constituted 
heresy,  allowing  the  decision  of  the  Sorbonne  to  be 
final  on  that  point.  Hence  their  function  seemed  to 
be  little  more  than  the  punishment  of  whomsoever 
the  theologians  chose  to  pronounce  guilty. 

In  1521  the  Sorbonne  solemnly  condemned  the 
doctrines  of  Luther,  declaring  that  they  ought  to  be 
extirpated  by  fire  and  sword  ;  yet  the  new  sectaries 
were  little  molested  till  after  the  fatal  day  of  Pavia. 

Francis  L  was  not  sorry  to  have  a  convenient  bug- 
bear wherewith  to  frighten  the  clergy.  He  was  also 
disposed  to  toleration  by  more  worthy  motives,  by 
the  influence  of  his  sister  Margaret,  and  by  his  un- 
feigned sympathy  with  letters  and  culture,  the  best 
trait  in  a  character  which  has  been  saved  from  well 
deserved  infamy  by  the  gratitude  of  the  Muses. 
But  when  the  King  was  captive  in  Spain  the  Regent, 
his  mother,  was  anxious  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  the  Pope  and  clergy  in  her  efforts  for  his  libera- 
tion, and  the  heretics,  who  it  was  said  had  drawn 
down  the  wrath  of  heaven  on  their  country,  had  a 
foretaste  of  the  severities  which  awaited  them. 
Lewis  de  Berquin  a  young  man  of  great  promise,  a 
scholar   and  a   courtier,  was   thrown  into  prison,  al- 


4  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

though  a  favourite  of  the  King.  On  the  return  of 
Francis,  Bcrquin  was  released.  Erasmus,  whose  Col- 
loquies had  been  condemned  by  the  Sorbonne,  was 
invited  to  Paris,  but  preferred  to  revenge  himself  on 
his  opponents  by  satire  from  a  safe  distance.  He 
criticised  a  book  published  by  Beda,  the  leader  of 
the  bigots  of  the  University,  and  proved  that  that 
pillar  of  orthodoxy  had  been  guilty  of  eighty  lies, 
three  hundred  calumnies,  forty-seven  blasphemies. 
Lefevre  now  in  his  eightieth  year,  who  had  recently 
completed  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
into  French,  was  recalled  from  Strasburg  and  ap- 
pointed tutor  of  the  King's  youngest  son.  The 
hopes  of  the  reforming  party  ran  high.  Zwingli 
the  most  amiable  and  tolerant  of  the  great  fathers 
of  the  Reformation  dedicated  his  book  on  true  and 
false  religion  to  the  King  of  France. 

But  the  tide  of  court  favour  was  already  turning: 
the  influence  of  Margaret  over  her  brother  was  in  the 
wane.  The  Chancellor  Duprat,  who  aspired  to  the 
Papacy,  and  the  King's  favourite  the  Constable  Anne 
of  Montmorency,  urged  the  repression  of  heresy. 
Yet  Francis  hesitated  to  sanction  active  persecution 
— when  an  event  occurred  which  at  once  gave  the 
preponderance  to  the  fanatical  party, 
r  One  evening  (  June  i,  1528)  an  image  of  the  Virgin 
at  a  street  corner  in  Paris  was  thrown  down  and 
mutilated.  The  whole  town  was  in  an  uproar  ;  the 
numerous  guilds  formed  in  honour  of  Our  Lady 
looked  upon  the  outrage  as  a  personal  insult.  The 
ignorant  mob  was  infuriated  by  such  sacrilege  to  their 
favourite  deity,  the  better  classes  were  alarmed  by 


15^9]  The  Reformation  in  France.  5 

this  proof  of  the  audacity  of  the  sectaries,  the  King 
was  indignant  at  an  act  which  seemed  an  abuse  of 
his  indulgence  and  which  was  likely  to  provoke  dis- 
order. For  a  whole  week  there  were  expiatory  pro- 
cessions— processions  of  the  University,  of  the  clergy, 
of  the  King  and  his  courtiers.  The  partisans  of 
persecution  triumphed,  and  Lewis  de  Berquin  was 
one  of  their  first  victims. 

Henceforth  the  history  of  French  Protestantism  is 
that  of  an  oppressed  minority,  never  safe  from  legal 
persecution  and  from  public  and  private  violence, 
except  when,  from  time  to  time,  their  own  valour 
and  resolution  or  political  expediency  obtained  for 
them  a  partial  and  precarious  respite. 

Persecution  compelled  the  French  Reformers  to 
become  a  church  militant,  yet  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  organisation  or  discipline  would  have 
enabled  them  to  increase  their  numbers  and  their 
influence  during  the  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Fran- 
cis I.  and  that  of  Henry  H.,  exposed  as  they  were 
to  the  rigour  of  the  law  and  the  hatred  of  the  mobj 
had  they  not  found  a  leader  and  an  inexpugnable 
citadel — Calvin  and  Geneva. 

Calvin  threw  the  doctrines  of  the  French  Reform- 
ers into  the  most  definite  and  logical  form  possible 
— he  organised  their  churches,  his  personal  influence 
gave  unity  to  their  councils. 

Under  the  anagram  of  Alcuin.  Calvin  published 
in  1555,  after  he  had  fled  from  Paris  to  Basle,  a  book 
called  Listittition  dc  la  Religion  CJircticnne  dedicated 
to  Francis  I.  It  professed  to  be  an  exposition  of 
tne  doctrines   of   the    Reformers,  and  to   point   out 


1/ 


6  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

how  undeserving  they  were  of  persecution,  and  how 
untainted  by  all  doctrines  dangerous  to  society.  In 
this  book — amplified  in  later  editions — Calvin  laid 
tiie__foundations  of  the  religion  of  the  Huguenots, 
of  the  Dutch,  of  the  Scotch,  of  the  Puritans  in 
England  and  America,  in  short  of  the  most  heroic, 
the  most  militant  and  the  most  characteristic  form 
of  Protestantism. 

In  the  dogmatic  part  of  the  treatise  Calvin  does 
not  originate,  he  only  presses  the  doctrines  of  others 
to  their  logical  conclusions.  The  fundamental  dog- 
ma— justification  by  faith  of  those  elected  by  grace 
— is  borrowed  from  Luther  and  Lefevre.  But  Calvin 
draws  from  their  premises  the  irrefutable  conclusion, 
that  those  predestined  to  salvation  by  the  certain 
foreknowledge  of  God  must  of  necessity  be  saved. 
More  original  than  his  dogmatic  theology  was  the 
combination  by  Calvin  of  views  about  church  gov- 
ernment far  more  revolutionary  than  those  of  the 
Lutherans  with  the  High  Church  doctrine  of  the 
independence  of  the  Church  and  of  its  authority 
over  the  State.  "  He  saw,"  says  a  French  historian, 
"the  Church  among  the  Lutherans  fallen  from  the 
control  of  the  Pope  to  that  of  the  princes,  and  that 
the  great  maxim  of  Luther,  '  Everyman  is  a  priest,' 
was  interpreted  in  practice  to  mean,  '  Every  prince 
is  a  Pope.'  Even  in  Switzerland,  where  there  were 
no  princes,  the  magistrates  took  upon  themselves  to 
legislate  for  the  Church,  which  appeared  to  be  upon 
the  point  of  becoming  wholly  merged  in  the  State." 
Calvin  endeavoured  to  secure  her  independence  and 
spiritual  authority.  '  He  insists  upon  the  importance 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  7 

and  power  of  the  ministry,  who  are  to  be  elected 
V  ith  the  consent  and  approval  of  the  people,  the 
pastors  presiding  over  the  election.  The  Consistory, 
the  assembly  of  ministers  and  elders,  must  admonish 
and  censure  all  breaches  of  discipline  and  morality. 
The  Church,  as  represented  by  this  assemblage,  has 
the  power  of  the  keys,  the  right  of  excommunication 
— surely  an  empty  terror  to  the  Elect  ?  There  is  no 
remission  of  sins  for  those  who  are  outside  the  pale 
of  Christ's  Church,  we  must  therefore  beware  of 
separating  ourselves  from  it,  because  we  may  have 
been  offended  by  some  trifling  imperfections.  The 
true  Church  is  that  in  which  the  Gospels  are  faith- 
fully and  simply  preached,  in  which  the  sacra- 
ments are  administered  according  to  the  ordinance 
of  Christ,  as  interpreted  by  Calvin,  and  in  which 
new  articles  of  faith  are  not  devised ;  those  who 
separate  themselves  from  the  true  Church,  like  the 
Anabaptists,  those  who  adhere  to  a  false  church  like 
the  Papists,  are  alike  apostates  from  the  faith  and 
irrevocably  damned. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  a  careless  despair,  or  a 
self-satisfied  and  inactive  acquiescence  in  the  con- 
viction of  personal  election  would  result  from  rigid 
predestinarianism.  But  this  has  not  been  the  case. 
No  doctrine  has  proved  more  capable  of  nerving 
men  for  great  efforts,  of  sustaining  them  in  moments 
of  doubt  and  difficulty  and  isolation.  The  feeling 
that  we  are  but  the  puppets,  or  the  passive  instru- 
ments of  an  overruling  fate — identified  with  the 
Divine  Will — has  enabled  the  soldier  to  advance 
undaunted  to  a  hopeless   struggle,  the  reformer  to 


8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

attack  institutions  which  have  the  sanction  of  cen- 
turies, the  martyr  to  beheve  in  his  cause  amid  the 
execration  of  a  unanimous  crowd. 

The  Papacy  had  upheld  monarchical  principles  in 
the  Church.  QEcumenical  councils  had  asserted 
the  authority  of  an  hierarchical  aristocracy.  The 
constitution  of  Calvinism  was  representative  and 
emocratic.  It  is  therefore  natural  that  no  other 
religious  system  should  have  shown  itself  so  favour- 
able to  political  freedom.  The  struggles  for  liberty 
and  constitutional  government  made  by  the  Euro- 
pean nations  during  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries 
are  unmistakably  connected  with  Calvinism. 
In  the  Netherlands,  as  in  Scotland,  the  return 
of  the  Protestant  exiles  who  had  taken  refuge  at 
Geneva  was  the  signal  for  resistance  to  the  excesses 
of  arbitrary  power.  The  English  refugees  who  fled 
from  the  persecution  of  Mary  Tudor  became  the 
founders  of  the  great  Puritan  party.  Nowhere — 
not  even  at  his  own  Geneva — were  the  principles  of 
Calvin  more  energetically  carried  out  than  in  New 
England,  by  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  the  founders  of 
the  freest  as  well  as  the  greatest  republic  the  world 
is  ever  likely  to  see. 

In  France,  as  elsewhere,  the  Calvinists  were  the 
opponents  of  despotism,  the  champions  of  popular 
government.  That  some  historians  should  have 
failed  to  see  this  must  be  explained  by  the  accident, 
that  the  prin.ce  whom  the  Huguenots  recognised  as 
their  leader,  happened  to  be  the  claimant  of  the 
throne  by  indefeasible  hereditary  right,  so  that  his 
and  their  enemies  naturally  appealed  to  the  elective 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  ^ 

and  popular  theory  of  sovereignty  ;  while  their 
alliance  with  the  populace  of  the  big  towns  gave  a 
spurious  air  of  democracy  to  these  defenders  of  the 
Papacy  and  clients  of  the  Spanish  tyrant. 

Calvin  became  the  legislator,  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  the  French  Reformers,  y_et_  even  Calvin 
could  have  effected  little  without  Geneva.  That 
little  town,  situated  on  the  confines  of  three  nation- 
alities and  inhabited  by  a  French-speaking  popula- 
tion, was  admirably  adapted  by  its  position  to 
interpret  the  teaching  of  Germany  and  Switzerland 
to  France.  For  a  hundred  years  Geneva  was  the 
citadel  of  the  Evangelical  religion.  There  were  the 
printing-presses  which,  as  St.  Francis  de  Sales  com- 
plained, scattered  their  pestilential  produce  over  all 
the  world  ;  there  was  the  Seminary,  where  the  min- 
isters were  trained  who  preached  the  Gospel  to 
congregations  assembled  by  stealth  on  desert  moun- 
tain or  heath,  or  in  towns  amid  the  more  dangerous 
fanaticism  of  the  crowd,  whose  least  hazardous 
service  was  to  invoke  the  blessing  of  heaven  while 
they  accompanied  their  flock  into  battle.  There  ex- 
iles and  pilgrims  from  every  part  of  Europe  met  and 
took  council  for  the  common  interests  of  the  Cause. 

The  influence  of  Calvin  and  of  his  doctrines  was 
needed  to  give  the  French  Reformers  the  energy  and 
the  organisation  which  enabled  them  to  sustain  an 
unequal  and  unavoidable  conflict ;  yet  that  conflict 
was  embittered,  the  issue  enlarged  and  a  compromise 
made  impossible  by  the  extreme  and  aggressive 
form  assumed  by  French  dissent.  The  majority  of 
Englishmen  who  conformed  with  equal  readiness  to 


lo  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

the  religion  by  law  established  under  Mary  Tudor 
or  Elizabeth  probably  saw  no  essential  difference 
between  a  service  said  in  Latin  or  in  English,  but 
the  most  careless  Gallio  could  not  but  perceive 
something  more  than  a  dissimilarity  in  forms  be- 
tween the  prayers  in  a  Calvinist  meeting-house  and 
the  "idolatrous  sacrifice  "  of  the  Mass. 
'  Francis  I.  had  long  shrunk  from  persecution,  but 
having  once  begun  he  showed  no  further  hesitation. 
I  /  During,  the  remainder  of  his  reign  and  the  whole  of 
that  of  his  son  Henry  II.  (1534-1559)  the  cruelty  of 
the  sufferings  inflicted  on  the  Reformers  increased 
Avith  the  number  of  the  victims.  At  first  they  were 
strangled  and  burnt,  then  burnt  alive,  then  hung  in 
chains  to  roast  over  a  slow  fire.  It  was  found  that 
this  last  method  of  prolonging  their  agony  gave 
them  time  to  sing  their  psalms  and  to  pray  for  their 
persecutors  from  the  midst  of  the  flames.  Even  the 
stupid  ferocity  of  the  mob  might  be  touched  ;  it  was 
therefore  ordered  that  they  should  be  gagged  ;  but 
the  fire  snapped  the  cords,  the  gag  fell  out  and  the 
ejaculations  of  the  half-charred  lips  excited  pity :  it 
seemed  a  safer  plan  to  cut  out  the  tongues  of  the 
heretics  before  they  were  led  to  execution. 

The  Edict  of  Chateaubriand  (1551),  taking  away  all 
right  of  appeal  from  those  convicted  of  heresy,  was 
followed  by  an  attempt  to  introduce  an  Inquisition 
on  the  model  of  that  of  Spain,  and  when  this  failed 
owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  lawyers,  the  Edict  of 
Compiegne  (1557)  denounced  capital  punishment 
against  all  who  in  public  or  private  professed  any 
heterodox  doctrine. 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  1 1 

It  is  a  commonplace  that  persecution  avails  noth- 
ing against  the  truth — that  the  true  Church  springs 
from  the  blood  of  martyrs.  Yet  the  same  cause 
which  triumphed  over  persecution  in  France  was 
crushed  by  it  in  Spain  and  in  the  Walloon  Nether^ 
lands.  Was  it  therefore  not  the  truth?  The  fact 
would  rather  seem  to  be,  that  there  is  no  creed,  no 
sect  which  cannot  be  extirpated  by  force.  But  that 
it  may  prevail,  persecution  must  be  without  respect 
of  persons,  universal,  continuous,  protracted.  Not 
one  of  these  conditions  was  fulfilled  in  France.  The 
opinions  of  the  greater  nobles  and  princes,  and  of 
those  who  were  their  immediate  followers,  were  not 
too  narrowly  scanned,  nor  was  the  persecution 
equally  severe  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  Some 
governors  and  judges  and  not  a  few  of  the  higher 
clergy  inclined  to  toleration.  Sadolet,  Bishop  of 
Carpentras,  protected  the  Vaudois,  and  Du  Chatel 
of  Macon  saved  for  a  time  Stephen  Dolet,  the 
learned  friend  of  Rabelais.  "  Do  you,  a  Catholic 
bishop,  dare  to  defend  a  Lutheran  and  an  atheist?" 
asked  the  pitiless  Cardinal  Tournon.  "  I  am  a  bishop 
and  I  speak  like  a  bishop,"  was  the  undaunted  reply ; 
"  but  you — you  play  the  hangman."  At  the  worst 
the  preachers  of  the  Word  found  a  sure  refuge  at 
Geneva,  in  the  dominions  of  the  Bourbons  and  at 
IVIontargis,  where  Renee  of  France,  the  Duchess  of 
Ferrara,  kept  her  court. 

The  cheerful  constancy  of  the  French  martyrs  was 
admirable.  Men,  women  and  children  walked  to 
execution  singing  the  psalms  of  Marot  and  the  Song 
of  Simeon.    This  boldness  confounded  thc'r  enemies. 


12  Henry  of  Navarre.  ii5l2- 

Havvkers  distributed  in  every  part  of  the  country  the 
books  issued  from  the  press  of  Geneva  and  which  it 
was  a  capital  offence  even  to  possess.  Preachers 
taught  openly  in  streets  and  market-places.  One  of 
these  missionaries  of  the  Gospel  was  asked  when  in 
prison,  how  it  came  that  he  laughed  and  rejoiced  in 
the  prospect  of  death,  although  our  Saviour  in  His 
agony  sweated  blood  and  prayed  that  the  cup  might 
pass  from  Him?  Still  smiling,  he  replied,  "Christ 
had  taken  upon  Him  all  human  infirmities  and  felt 
the  bitterness  of  death,  but  I,  who  by  faith  possess 
such  a  blessing,  the  assurance  of  salvation,  what  can 
I  but  rejoice  ?  "  Such  men  died  in  ecstasy,  insensible 
to  the  diabolical  ingenuity  of  the  punishments  in- 
flicted on  them.  The  sight  of  sufferings  thus 
endured  could  not  be  without  an  effect.  More  than 
one  judge  was  stricken  to  death  with  horror  and 
remorse ;  others  embraced  the  faith  of  their  victims. 
The  executioner  of  Dijon  proclaimed  his  conversion 
at  the  foot  of  the  scaffold. 

The  increasing  numbers  of  their  converts  and  the 
high  position  of  some  among  them  gave  confidence 
to  the  Protestants.  Delegates  from  the  reformed 
congregations  of  France  were  on  their  way  to  Paris 
to  take  part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  first  national 
Synod  on  the  very  day  (April  2,  1559)  when  the 
geace  of  Cateau  Cambresis  was  signed,  a  peace 
which  was  to  be  the  prelude  to  a  vigorous  and  con- 
certed effort  to  root  out  heresy  on  the  part  of  the 
kings  of  France  and  Spain.  The  object  of  the 
meeting  was  twofold  :  first  to  draw  up  a  detailed 
profession  of  faith,  which  was  submitted  to  Calvin — 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  13 


there  was,  he  said,  Httle  to  add,  less  to  correct — 
secondly  to  determine  the  "ecclesiastical  discipline" 
of  the  new  Church.  The  ministers  were  to  be  chosen 
by  the  elders  and  deacons,  but  approved  by  the 
whole  congregation.  The  affairs  of  each  congrega-  f 
tion  were  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Consistory, 
a  court  composed  of  the  pastors,  elders  and  deacons ; 
more  important  matters  were  reserved  for  the  deci- 
sion of  the  provincial  "  colloques  "  or  synods,  which 
were  to  meet' twice  a  year,  and  in  which  each  church 
was  represented  by  its  pastor  and  at  least  one  elder. 
Above  all  was  the  national  Synod  also  composed  of 
the  clergy  and  of  representative  laymen. 

This  organisation  was   thoroughly  representative 
and  popular,  the  elected  delegates,  of  the  congrega-      1       y^ 
tions,  the  elders  and  deacons,  preponderated  in  all 
the  governing  bodies,  and  all  ministers  and  churches 
were  declared  equaL 

The  Reformed  churches,  which  although  most  nu- 
merous in  the  South  spread  over  almost  the  whole 
country,  are  said  at  this  time  to  have  counted  some 
400,000  members  (1559).  These  were  of  almost  all 
classes,  except  perhaps  the  lowest,  although  even 
among  the  peasantry  there  were  some  martyrs  for 
the  faith.  Coligny  truly  said  that  the  lowly  had 
been  the  first  to  show  the  way  of  salvation  to  the 
rich  and  powerful ;  the  vast  majority  of  the  earliest 
converts  belonged  to  the  middle  classes,  the  better 
educated  artisans  and  traders  and  to  the  lower  ranks 
of  the  professions  ;  but  the  upper  classes  had  not 
been  slow  to  follow.  Little  is  proved  by  Michelet's 
assertion  that  he  could  find  only  three  men  of  noble 


IX 


14  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

birth  among  the  lists  of  victims  who  perished  before 
1555,  except  that  the  privileged  classes  escaped  the 
persecution  the  weight  of  which  fell  on  their  poorer 
brethren. 

The  first  minister  of  the  Church  of  Paris,  which 
was  founded  by  a  noble,  was  the  son  of  a  rich  and 
dignified  magistrate  of  Dijon  ;  honourable  women 
were  among  its  earliest  martyrs.  The  first  converts 
in  Dauphiny  were  of  gentle  birth.  The  Edict  of 
Fontainebleau  (1540)  speaks  of  the  favour  and  sup- 
port received  by  the  heretics  from  men  of  rank.  In 
Brittany  the  nobles  welcomed  the  new  teaching 
which  was  rejected  by  the  ignorant  and  supersti- 
tious peasantry. 

The  rapid  diffusion  of  their  doctrines  among  the 
upper  classes  and  the  consciousness  of  the  sympathy 
and  support  of  men  of  great  position  probably  gave 
the  Huguenots  a  boldness  remarkable  in  a  small 
and  persecuted  minority :  but  it  would  be  altogether 
erroneous  to  imagine  that  they  were  an  oligarchical 
faction.  The  strength  of  the  Protestants  always  lay 
among  the  trading  and  professional  classes  and  the 
country  gentry.  From  these  classes  came  the  men 
who  were  the  first  to  embrace  a  simpler  faith  and 
who  clung  to  it  after  great  nobles,  courtiers  and 
statesmen  had  fallen  away.  At  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  not  many  Schombergs  and 
Ruvignys  passed  the  frontiers,  but  'thousands  of 
skilful  artisans,  frugal  tradesmen  and  honourable 
merchants. 

The  most  significant,  and  to  the  orthodox  the 
most  alarming,  symptom  of  the  difTusion  of  the  new 


15691  Tha  Reforjnation  in  France.  15 

opinions  and  of  the  sympathy  with  which  they  were 
regarded,  was  that  the  Parhament  of  Paris,  long  the 
uncompromising  opponent  of  dissent,  hesitated  to 
enforce  the  laws  against  heresy. 

Henry  II.  determined  himself  to  be  present  at  a 
general  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  various 
courts  of  law,  at  which  it  was  proposed  to  decide 
how  the  laws  against  heresy  should  be  applied. 
It  was  thought  that  the  King's  presence  would  over- 
awe those  who  were  in  favour  of  toleration.  But 
the  most  respectable  magistrates  disdained  to  con- 
ceal their  opinions.  Anne  du  Bourg  thanked  God 
that  his  Majesty  was  present  at  the  decision  of  a 
matter  which  concerned  the  cause  of  our  Saviour. 
"  It  was,"  he  said,  "  no  light  thing  to  condemn  those 
who  from  the  midst  of  the  flames  call  upon  His 
name.  What !  Crimes  most  worthy  of  death,  blas- 
phemy, adultery,  horrible  sins  and  perjuries  are  com- 
mitted day  by  day  with  impunity  in  the  face  of 
heaven,  while  day  by  day  new  tortures  are  devised 
for  men  whose  only  crime  is  that  by  the  light  of  the 
Scriptures  they  have  discovered  the  corruptions  of 
the  Church  of  Rome !  "  "  Let  us  clearly  under- 
stand," said  another  judge,  "  who  they  are  that 
trouble  the  Church,  lest  it  should  be  said,  as  Elijah 
cried  to  King  Ahab,  '  Thou  art  he  that  troublest 
Israel.' "  The  indignation  of  the  King  exceeded  all 
measure.  He  ordered  Du  Bourg  and  seven  others 
to  be  at  once  committed  to  the  Bastille  ;  he  swore 
he  would  see  Du  Bourg  burn  with  his  own  eyes. 

But  before  his  vengeance  could  take  effect  Henry 
II.  tilting  with  the  Captain  of  his  Guards  was  killed 


1 6  Henry  of  Navarre,   »  WbM- 

by  the  splinter  of  a  lance.  Some  bold  believer  who 
had  access  to  the  room  where  the  King's  body  lay, 
threw  over  the  corpse  a  piece  of  tapestry:  Saul  fall- 
ing from  his  horse  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  as  the 
terrible  words  sounded  in  his  ears,  "  Saul,  Saul,  why 
persecutest  thou  me  ?  " 

Although  the  Protestants  saw  the  judgment  of 
God  in  the  King's  death,  the  more  farsighted  among 
them  must  have  doubted  whether  that  event  was 
likely  to  improve  their  position.  Two  policies  had 
divided  the  councils  of  Henry  II.  The  Constable 
Montmorency  had  been  in  favour  of  alliance  with 
Spain,  an  alliance  the  necessary  consequence  of 
which  was  the  violent  suppression  of  heresy.  Mont- 
morency's rivals,  the  Guises,  although  not  less  hos- 
tile to  the  Reformers,  were  opposed  to  the  Spanish 
connection.  They  wished  to  support  the  claims  of 
their  niece  Mary  Stuart  to  the  English  throne,  and 
dreamt  of  uniting  France,  Scotland  and  England 
into  a  monarchy  capable  of  balancing  the  Austro- 
Spanish  power.  Thus  it  came  that  Philip  II.  was 
compelled  to  protect  the  heretic  Elizabeth,  while 
the  Guises  were  placed  in  the  difficult  position  of 
being  at  once  the  enemies  of  Spain  and  of  Protes- 
tantism. 

The  Guises,  ignoring  the  elder  branch  of  their 
family,  which  sought  to  maintain  itself  peaceably  and 
unambitiously  in  Lorraine,  and  to  provoke  as  little 
as  might  be  the  interference  of  more  powerful  neigh- 
bours, claimed  to  be  the  representatives  of  the 
ambitious  and  unfortunate  House  of  Anjou,  from 
which  they  were  descended  in  the  female  line.    Duke 


1569J         The  Reformation  in  France.  1 7 

Francis  signed  his  marriage  contract  "  Francis  of 
Anjou  "  ;  he  obtained  from  Henry  II.  when  Dau- 
phin a  promise  of  the  investiture,  or  as  he  preferred 
to  call  it  the  "  restitution  "  of  Provence  ;  he  sacri- 
ficed, when  commanding  an  army  in  Italy,  the 
interests  of  France  to  some  chimerical  plan  for 
asserting  the  old  Angevin  claim  to  the  Crown  of 
Naples.  This  baseless  assumption  was  the  prelude 
to  bolder  flights  of  ambitious  fancy.  The  time  was 
not  far  distant  when  the  agents  and  pamphleteers 
of  the  House  of  Lorraine  strove  to  establish  that 
the  Crown  of  France  might  more  justly  be  worn  by 
the  descendants  of  Charles  the  Great  than  by  any 
member   of   the  usurping   House  of  Capet. 

The  Duke  of  Guise  had  the  reputation  of  a  great 
and  popular  captain.  He  had  been  successful  in 
war,  his  bravery  was  undoubted,  and  he  affected 
magnanimity  in  success  and  a  soldierly  directness 
of  bearing  and  conduct.  The  pliant  disposition  of 
his  brother  the  Cardinal,  his  experience  in  every 
form  of  intrigue,  maintained  the  influence  of  the 
family  at  Court,  and  enabled  the  Duke  to  stand 
aloof  from  a  contest  of  meanness  and  duplicity,  alien 
not  so  much  to  his  real  character  as  to  an  ostentatious 
display  of  chivalrous  pride  and  independence. 

The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  was  of  graceful  and 
commanding  presence,  gifted  with  refined  and  per- 
suasive eloquence,  an  accomplished  scholar  and 
singularly  successful  in  winning  the  confidence  of 
those  with  whom  he  conversed  ;  but  he  was  as  mean- 
spirited  and  despondent  in  adversity  as  he  was 
arrogant   and    presumptuous    in    success,    and    the 


1 8  Henry  of  Navarre.  {\b\2- 

lustre  of  many  splendid  qualities  was  dimmed  by  a 
sordid  avarice  unusual  in  a  man  of  such  lofty  ambi- 
tion ;  and  not  to  be  excused  in  one  who  enjoyed 
the  revenues  of  three  archbishoprics,  nine  bishoprics 
and  numerous  other  benefices. 

The  accession  of  Francis  II.  threw  the  whole  gov- 
ernment of  the  State  into  the  hands  of  the  Guises. 
The  new  King  was  a  sickly  boy,  weak  in  body  and 
mind,  the  slave  of  his  wife  Mary  Stuart,  who  was 
herself  ruled  by  her  uncles. 

The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  was  so  elated  to  find 
himself  in  the  undisputed  control  of  the  royal  power 
that  he  disdained  to  conciliate  his  rivals  and  enemies. 
The  Princes  of  the  Blood  were  treated  with  con- 
tempt, the  Queen-Mother  was  neglected,  no  attempt 
was  made  to  disarm  the  hostility  of  the  nobles,  who 
hated  the  Guises  as  foreign  favourites  and  upstarts. 
The  Protestants  were  persecuted  with  increased 
severity.  All  who  attended  their  meetings,  all  who 
knew  of  such  meetings  and  did  not  at  once  denounce 
them,  were  to  be  punished  by  death.  Du  Bourgwas 
burnt,  notwithstanding  the  urgent  intercessions  of 
the  Elector  Palatine  and  the  Swiss. 

The  authority  of  the  Guises  depended  on  the  frail 
life  of  the  King  ;  their  power  was  not  firmly  enough 
established  to  render  hopeless  the  thoughts  of  resist- 
ance which  it  provoked.  These  Lotheringians,  it  was 
muttered,  had  usurped  the  Government ;  if  the  King 
was  himself  incapable  of  ruling  he  ought  to  be 
assisted  by  the  natural  advisers  of  the  Crown,  the 
Princes  of  the  Blood,  the  great  officers  of  state,  the 
representatives  of  the  Three  Estates  of  the  Realm. 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  19 

Calvin  persistently  inculcated  the  passive  endur- 
ance of  persecution,  and  the  majority  of  the  ministers 
of  the  French  Church  were  his  obedient  disciples, 
but  it  became  more  and  more  difficult  for  them  to 
restrain  their  flocks.  The  early  Christians  had  suf- 
fered themselves  to  be  led  unresistingly  to  martyr- 
dom, and  had  not  cared  to  attempt  to  reform — 
except  by  their  prayers  and  example— a  state  and  a 
society  of  which  they  scarcely  felt  themselves  to  be 
members,  and  the  end  of  which  they  believed  to 
be  at  hand.  There  was  little  of  this  patient  spirit 
about  the  Huguenots — as  the  French  Protestants 
began  to  be  called.*'  Those  of  them  who  belonged 
to  the  middle  classes  had  not  yet  forgotten  the 
struggles  of  their  ancestors  for  municipal  indepen- 
dence ;  the  country  people  had,  it  is  true,  been  accus- 
tomed to  oppression,  but  there  were  few  proselytes 
among  the  peasantry,  except  where,  as  in  Languedoc 
and  the  country  of  the  Vaudois,  the  ground  was 
prepared  by  older  traditions  of  resistance ;  least  of 
all  were  the  Protestant  noblemen  and  gentlemen, 
whose  numbers  were  rapidly  increasing,  disposed 
quietly  to  submit  to  persecution.  By  what  argu- 
ments could  Calvin  restrain  them  ?  He  might 
appeal  to  a  few  isolated  texts  in  the  New  Testament, 
but  the  Huguenots,  like  the  Puritans,  considered 
themselves  a  chosen  people,  and  could  find  warrant 
enough  in  Holy  Writ  for  smiting  the  enemies  of  the 
Lord.      If   any  scruple  was  still  felt   in   resisting  a 

*  The  derivation  of  this  name  is  very  obscure.  According  to  the 
most  probable  guess  it  is  a  corruption  of  the  German,  "  Eidgenossen,^" 
confederates. 


20  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

lawfully  constituted  authority,  this,  it  was  urged,  did 
not  apply  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Guises.  Moreover, 
the  Protestants  were  dragged  before  extraordinary 
tribunals  unknown  to  the  laws,  or  hunted  down  by 
riotous  mobs.  It  was  afterwards  their  boast,  that 
they  had  patiently  submitted  so  long  as  they  had 
been  butchered  under  the  forms  of  law  and  by 
sentence  of  the  established  courts. 

In  the  spring  of  1560,  partly  among  the  Hugue- 
nots, partly  among  those  who  for  public  or  private 
reasons  hated  the  Guises,  a  plot  was  formed  to  seize 
the  King  and  to  place  the  Prince  of  Cond^  at  the 
head  of  the  Government.  The  conspirators  failed, 
and  were  cruelly  punished.  But  at  an  assembly  of 
notables,  which  the  Cardinal  had  summoned  in  his 
first  alarm,  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  policy 
of  the  Government  on  religious  and  political  grounds 
made  themselves  heard.  Marillac,  Archbishop  of 
Vienne,  an  old  diplomatist,  insisted  that  the  repre- 
jSentatives  of  the  nation  ought  to  take  their  part  in 
/  the  government  of  the  country  ;  the  Admiral  of 
I  /  France,  Coligny,  presented  a  petition  from  the 
Reformers  of  Normandy,  of  which  province  he  was 
governor,  repudiating  all  sympathy  with  the  late 
conspiracy  but  demanding  toleration. 

The  Guises  believed  that  the  influence  of  the 
Government  could  secure  a  subservient  majority  and 
determined  to  summon  the  Estates.  The  Protes- 
tants were  to  be  excluded  by  requiring  all  members 
to  subscribe  an  orthodox  confession  of  faith.  All 
who  refused  to  do  so  would  not  only  not  be  allowed 
to  take  their  seats,  but  would  be  at  once  thrown  into 


1569]  The  Reformation  ifi  France.  2i 


prison  ajul  punislicd  as  heretics  without  further 
form   of  trial. 

By  these  means  the  Guises  trusted  to  obtain  from 
the  States-General  such  a  confirmation  of  their 
authority  as  might  effectually  silence  all  objections 
to  its  legitimacy.  They  were  the  more  confident 
because  the  men  who  would  have  been  the  natural 
leaders  of  all  opposition  both  religious  and  political, 
Antony  of  Bourbon,  King  of  Navarre,  and  his  brother 
Lewis,  Prince  of  Conde,  had  foolishly  ventured  to 
Court  and  placed  themselves  in  their  power,  and 
might  be  punished  as  accomplices  in  the  conspiracy 
against  the  liberty  of  the  King. 

The  death  of  Francis  II.  (December  5,  1560) 
frustrated  all  these  plans.  The  accession  of  Charles 
IX.,  a  child  barely  eleven  years  old,  necessitated  the 
appointment  of  a  Regent.  That  Regent  could  only 
be  the  Queen-Mother  or  the  first  Prince  of  the 
Blood,  the  King  of  Navarre.  But  the  latter  had 
promised  Catherine  de'  Medici  as  the  price  of  her 
protection  against  the  Guises,  that  he  would  not,  in 
the  event  of  the  King's  death,  press  his  claim  to  the 
Regency,  and  he  now  kept  his  word.  But  the  coun- 
cil decided  that  all  questions  should  in  the  first 
instance  be  referred  to  him,  and  if  his  authority 
carried  little  weight,  this  was  due  rather  to  his 
weakness  and  want  of  political  skill,  than  to  the  fact 
that  he  did  not  hold  the  title  of  Regent, 

The  States-General  met  on  December  15,  1560, 
but  under  auspices  very  different  from  what  had 
been  anticipated.  The  enemies  of  the  Guises,  the 
Bourbons,  Montmorency  and  Chatillons,  were  now 


22  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512 

in  the  ascendant  in  the  royal  council.  Notwith- 
standing government  influence  many  Protestants 
had  been  elected  and  were  allowed  to  take  their 
seats  ;  a  larger  number  of  members  belonged  to  the 
moderate  party  ;  and  as  yet  all  who  were  not  fanati- 
cally orthodox  were  disposed  to  sympathise  with 
the  Huguenots,  who  so  far  had  suffered  without 
attempting  to  retaliate  on  their  enemies. 

The  proceedings  of  the  States-General  of  1561 
would,  had  we  space,  be  deserving  of  our  most  care- 
ful attention,  because  they  show  that  there  was  at 
that  time  in  France  a  large  party  in  favour  of  a 
policy  of  religious,  constitutional  and  administrative 
reform,  which  could  it  have  been  adopted  might 
have  changed  the  whole  future  of  the  country  and 
have  saved  it  from  many  years,  perhaps  from  centuries, 
of  war,  suffering,  despotism  and  revolution  :  because 
then  for  the  first  time  we  find  the  great  principle  of 
toleration  authoritatively  laid  down.  "  It  is  unrea- 
sonable to  compel  men  to  do  what  in  their  hearts 
they  consider  wrong.  ,  .  ,  for  whatever  we  do 
against  our  conscience  is  sin." 

The  Estates  would  have  sold  the  property  of  the 
,(3hurch  for  the  benefit  of  the  King  and  nation,  re- 
formed Religion  in  accordance  with  the  word  of  God. 
as  interpreted  by  a  national  council  in  which  both 
the  clergy  and  representative  laymen  should  have 
sat,  limited  the  royal  prerogative  by  periodical  meet- 
ings of  the  representatives  of  the  nation,  diminished 
the  privileges  of  the  nobles,  and  substituted  an  elec- 
tive magistracy  for  one  which,  owing  to  the  sale  of 
offices,  was  rapidly  becoming  hereditary. 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  23 

The  demands  of  the  States-General  of  1561  are 
the  best  evidence  of  the  poHtical  tendencies  of  the 
majority  of  the  Huguenots  and  of  those  moderate 
men  who  although  opposed  or  indifferent  to  changes 
in  doctrine  were  hostile  to  the  Pope,  the  King  of 
Spain  and  the  Guises.  We  may  contemplate  in 
them  an  ideal,  compared  with  which  all  that  Henry 
IV.  was  able  to  effect  shrinks  into  insignificance. 
But  what  he  attempted  was  possible,  the  scheme  of 
the  Reformers  of  1561  was  too  complete  and  con- 
sistent to  be  within  the  range  of  practical  politics. 
Changes  so  great  could  only  have  been  effected  by 
an  overwhelming  tide  of  public  opinion,  or  by  an 
energetic  minority  controlling  the  machinery  of 
government.  The  States-General  were  not  supported 
by  public  opinion  and  many  of  the  measures  they 
proposed  excited  the  violent  opposition  of  all 
constituted  authorities.  The  Third  Estate  for  the 
most  part  represented  municipal  oligarchies,  neither 
numerous  nor  popular.  The  nobility  were  not  organ- 
ised for  united  action  ;  among  their  natural  leaders, 
the  great  nobles  and  princes,  there  were  few  who 
were  not  mainly  actuated  by  selfish  motives,  and 
those  few  were  w^anting  in  political  insight.  Coligny, 
pre-eminent  in  character,  ability  and  position,  failed 
to  see  that  a  reformed  Church  was  possible  only  in 
a  reformed  State. 

Not  only  did  the  proposals  of  the  Estates  meet 
with  no  acceptance,  but  the  dislike  with  which  they 
were  regarded  was  extended  to  the  religious  opinions 
with  which  they  were  believed  to  be  connected. 

We  may  henceforth  notice  a  marked  change  in  the 


K 


\ 


24  Henry  of  Navarre.  11512- 

attitude  of  the  Parliaments,  of  the  higher  clergy  and 
of  a  powerful  party  at  Court,  whose  enmity  to  the 
Huguenots  became  implacable.  The  lawyers  were 
indignant  at  the  attempt,  if  not  suggested,  at  any 
rate  countenanced  by  the  Protestants,  to  interfere 
with  the  number,  the  emoluments  and  the  tenure  of 
judicial  offices,  which  they  had  begun  to  consider 
the  hereditary  possessions  of  their  families.  They 
were  especially  jealous  of  the  interference  of  the 
States-General,  for  they  had  never  regarded  the 
principle  of  representative  government  with  favour, 
and  had  themselves  usurped  many  of  the  functions 
which  a  popular  assembly,  meeting  at  regular  inter- 
vals, would  have  resumed.  Henceforward  all  but  a 
small  minority  of  the  judges  were  eager  to  strain 
the  laws  against  the  dissenters  and  reluctant  to  apply 
them  in  their  favour. 

It  was,  as  we  shall  see,  only  after  years  of  civil 
war,  after  full  experience  of  the  unpatriotic  fanati- 
cism, the  anarchy,  the  selfish  and  unconstitutional 
ambition  of  the  League  and  its  leaders,  after  the 
weight  of  their  traditional  respect  for  monarchical 
principles  had  been  thrown  into  the  scale,  that  a 
considerable  number  of  the  more  eminent  lawyers 
joined  the  moderate  or  "  political  "  party  ;  and,  even 
then,  a  majority  in  the  courts  opposed  the  formal 
recognition  of  the  principle  of  toleration. 

Hitherto,  also,  many  of  the  higher  clergy,  though 
they  had  not  embraced  Calvinism,  had  been  well 
disposed  to  some  measures  of  reform,  which,  freeing 
them  from  the  interference  of  the  Roman  Curia  and 
the  avarice  of  Italian  churchmen,  might  leave  them 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  25 

in  the  enjoyment  of  their  revenues  and  dignity  ;  but 
henceforth,  since  the  Reformers  proposed  the  secu- 
larisation of  the  estates  of  the  Church,  they  could 
only  be  regarded  as  pestilent  heretics. 

A  proposal  to  resume  the  lavish  grants  of  money, 
crown  lands  and  pensions  made  to  his  favourites  by 
Henry  II.  alarmed  and  irritated  many  powerful  men, 
such  as  the  Constable  Montmorency  and  Marshal 
St.  Andre  ;  while  the  fact  that  the  Huguenots  should 
have  been  able  to  exercise  so  great  an  influence 
over  the  election  of  the  members  of  the  Estates,  was 
a  confirmation  of  the  alarming  reports  of  the  wide 
diffusion  of  the  new  doctrines.  Fear  stimulated  the 
hatred  of  their  enemies. 

A  quarter  of  the  inhabitants  of  France  were,  it 
was  said,  included  in  the  2,500  reformed  congrega- 
tions. This  is  certainly  an  exaggeration,  but  it  is 
probable  that  the  number  of  the  Protestants  was 
never  greater  than  during  the  first  years  of  the  reign 
of  Charles  IX.  What  that  number  was  we  can  only 
guess.  The  2,500  congregations  may  have  existed  ; 
but  while  some  of  these  counted  many  hundred  or 
even  thousand  members,  others  were  composed  of 
only  the  family  and  retainers  of  the  owner  of  the 
manor-house  in  which  they  met.  On  the  other  hand 
among  the  townspeople  and  smaller  gentry  there 
must  have  been  numerous  believers  who  had  no  op- 
portunity of  public  worship,  or  but  seldom  met  to 
partake  of  the  rare  ministrations  of  an  itinerant 
preacher.  The  most  probable  estimate  is  that  at 
the  beginning  of  the  wars  of  religion,  the  Hugue- 
noti  with  women  and  children  amounted  to  some 


26  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

1,500,000  souls  out  of  a  population  of  between 
fifteen  and  twenty  millions.  But  in  this  minority 
were  included  about  one-fourth  of  the  lesser  nobility, 
the  country  gentlemen,  and  a  smaller  proportion  of 
the  great  nobles,  the  majority  of  the  better  sort  of 
townspeople  in  many  of  the  most  important  towns, 
such  as  Caen,  Dieppe,  Havre,  Nantes,  La  Rochelle, 
Nimes,  Montpellier,  Montauban,  Chalons,  Macon, 
Lyons,  Valence,  Limoges  and  Grenoble,  and  an  im- 
portant minority  in  other  places,  such  as  Rouen, 
Orleans,  Bordeaux  and  Toulouse.  The  Protestants 
were  most  numerous  in  the  South-west,  in  Poitou, 
in  the  Marche,  Limousin,  Angoumois  and  Perigord, 
because  in  those  districts,  which  were  the  seats  of 
long-established  and  flourishing  manufactures,  the 
middle  classes  were  most  prosperous,  intelligent  and 
educated. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Catholics  were  not  in  a 
large  majority,  even  where  the  superior  position, 
intelligence  and  vigour  of  the  Huguenots  gave  them 
the  upper  hand.  Only  in  some  parts  of  the  South-west 
and  of  Dauphiny  do  the  bulk  of  the  population  appear 
to  have  been  decidedly  hostile  to  the  old  religion. 

During  the  course  of  the  Civil  War  the  Protes- 
tants came  to  be  more  and  more  concentrated  in 
certain  parts  of  the  country,  as  for  instance  betvv"=?en 
the  Garonne  and  the  Loire.  A  scheme  for  the  con- 
version of  this  district  into  a  Protestant  republic  was 
discussed  by  the  English  Council  as  late  as  1625. 
Where  they  were  not  strong  enough  to  hold  their 
own  in  arms  the  Huguenots  were  either  compelled  to 
migrate  or  were  butchered  and  extirpated. 


1569]  The  Reformation  i7i  France.  27 

On  the  first  outbreak  of  hostilities,  the  Catholi^.s 
of  Toulouse  supported  by  the  Parliament  massacred 
or  drove  into  exile  3,000  heretics, — among  them  a 
majority  of  the  scholars  of  the  University  and 
nearly  all  the  leading  members  of  the  municipality. 
In  Provence,  although  supported  by  the  Governor, 
the  Count  of  Tenda,  the  Protestants  could  not  main- 
tain themselves.  The  Parliament  of  Aix  began  the 
work  of  extirpation  by  sentencing  1,300  heretics  to 
the  flames.  These  are  two  instances  out  of  many. 
Thus  it  was  that  Protestantism  tended  to  become 
more  and  more  local  in  character.  Yet  from  the 
first  it  made  little  way  in  the  North-east,  in  Picardy 
and  in  Champagne,  and  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
country,  the  Isle  de  France.  It  must  therefore  be 
allowed  that  the  Reformation  took  root  most  readily 
in  those  provinces  where  the  traditions  of  local  inde- 
pendence were  strongest,  or  the  immediate  authority  /^ 
of  the  Crown  most  recent,  in  Gascony,  Guienne,  ' 
Languedoc  and  Dauphiny. 

The  Huguenot  preachers  at  first  met  with  con- 
siderable success  in  Paris.  Their  congregations 
amounted  at  times  to  50,000  people,  but  they  could 
not  make  way  against  the  fanaticism  of  the  mob, 
the  unscrupulous  hatred  of  the  clergy,  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  municipality,  who  dreaded  disturbance, 
and  the  enmity  of  Parliament  and  University. 
The  Protestants,  La  Noue  tells  us,  were  as  little 
a  match  for  their  opponents  in  the  capital  as  a  gnat 
is  for  an  elephant  :  the  novices  of  the  convents 
and  the  priests'  housekeepers  could  have  driven 
them  out  with  their  broomsticks.     Paris  indeed  was 


28  Henry  of  Navarre.  \\^\1- 

scarcely  less  than  Rome  the  centre  of  Catholicism. 
Tier  University  was  the  chosen  abode  of  sacred 
learning,  the  supreme  teacher  and  judge  of  ortho- 
dox doctrine.  All  strangers  admired  the  piety  of 
the  Parisians  and  the  many  churches  which  vied 
with  each  other  in  the  splendour  of  their  services 
and  filled  the  air  with  the  peals  which  rang  from  the 
forest  of  their  spires  and  towers.  The  streets  were 
crowded  with  monks  and  nuns ;  a  procession  was 
met  at  every  turn,  and  the  passerby  who  did  not  do 
reverence  to  the  Host  by  kneeling  in  the  filth  of  the 
ill-paved  lanes  was  likely  to  rue  his  excess  of  nice- 
ness  or  want  of  fervour.  The  tenants  and  clients  of 
the  monks  filled  the  populous  suburbs,  which  for  the 
most  part  were  the  property  of  the  great  religious 
houses,  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  the  Charterhouse  on 
the  site  of  the  Luxembourg,  St.  Victor,  the  Car- 
melites in  the  Faubourg  St.  Jacques.  The  Univer- 
sity with  its  sixty-five  colleges  was  almost  a  town  in 
itself.  Inside  the  walls  the  convents  and  monas- 
teries were  not  less  numerous,  many  of  them  rising 
like  fortresses  from  the  lofty  enclosures  of  their 
gardens. 

Not  only  were  the  Huguenots  but  a  small  minority 
of  the  nation,  but  that  minority  itself  was  composed 
of  two  very  different  classes  of  men.  There  were 
those  whom  we  may  call  the  French  Puritans,  men 
of  austere  life  and  firm  convictions,  who  wished  to 
establish  throughout  France  the  same  rigid  disci- 
pline which  Calvin  had  introduced  at  Geneva,  and 
which  John  Knox  was  labouring  to  uphold  in  Scot- 
land.    There  were  also  those  who  had  embraced  the 


1569]  The  Reformation  in  France.  29 

doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  not  so  much  from 
spiritual  conviction  as  from  discontent  with  the 
abuses  of  Rome,  from  love  of  change,  from  the 
influence  of  the  new  learning,  which  had  shaken  the 
foundation  of  old  beliefs,  or  for  purely  political  and 
social  reasons. 

The  bold  attitude  of  the  Reformers  in  the  Estates, 
the  apparent  influence  at  Court  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  who  boasted  that  before  the  year  was  out 
the  Gospel  should  be  preached  throughout  the  King- 
dom, the  conversion  of  many  even  of  the  higher 
clergy,  the  Cardinal  of  Chatillon,  the  Archbishop  of 
Aix,  th.^  Bishops  of  Uz^s,  Oleron,  Lescars,  Chartres 
and  Troyes,  were  held  to  be  heretics — these  were 
among  the  signs  which  convinced  many  that  the 
Reformation  was  on  the  point  of  triumphing  in 
France.  Time-servers  like  Monluc,  Bishop  of  Va- 
lence, began  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  to  denounce 
the  errors  of  Rome  to  crowded  congregations  of 
courtiers  and  nobles,  many  of  whom  were  glad  to 
show  their  sympathy  with  a  less  superstitious  creed 
by  eating  meat  in  Lent,  avoiding  the  confessional 
and  looking  forward  to  a  share  in  the  spoils  of  the 
Church. 

The  Queen-Mother  appeared  not  displeased  to 
see  her  ladies  reading  the  New  Testament,  singing 
the  psalms  of  Marot,  and  practising  the  "language 
of  Canaan,"  as  they  called  the  biblican  cant  of  the 
zealous  Reformers.  Margaret  of  Valois  boasts  in 
her  memoirs  that  her  infant  orthodoxy  stood  un- 
shaken in  the  midst  of  this  rising  tide  of  heresy,  in 
spite  of  persecution   suffered  at   the  hands  of  her 


2,0  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

brother,  Henry   of  Anjou,   because    she  would    not 
change  her  missal  for  a  Calvinist  hymn-book. 

Indifferent  to  the  principles  involved,  Catherine 
de'  Medici  was  watching  events,  leaving  them  to 
determine  what  her  future  policy  should  be. 

Thus  much  at  any  rate  was  clear,  that  it  was  to  her 
interest  that  neither  party  should  become  so  strong 
as  to  be  indifferent  to  her  support.  Besides  she  was 
as  much  attracted  by  the  intrigues,  the  constant 
negotiations,  the  trickery  which  a  trimming  policy 
entailed,  as  she  was  repelled  by  the  dangers  of  a 
more  decided  course.  Machiavelli's  heroes,  the  Cas- 
tracanis,  the  Sforzas,  the  Borgias  of  Italian  history, 
may  be  cited  to  prove  that  courage  and  a  tortuous 
policy  are  not  incompatible  :  their  treachery  often 
wears  the  air  of  splendid  audacity.  Not  so  the 
statecraft  of  the  Florentine  who  so  long  and  so 
fatally  influenced  the  destinies  of  France. 
[  The  character  of  Catherine,  which  has  sometimes 
been  called  an  enigma,  would  rather  appear  to  have 
been  singularly  simple.  A  really  great  statesman 
must  understand  the  varied  passions  and  motives 
of  men  ;  he  will  understand  them  best  if  he  has  him- 
self experienced  them,  if  he  is  indeed  "  so  various  as 
to  be,  not  one,  but  all  mankind's  epitome,"  but  he 
may  also  understand  them,  less  intimately  indeed  yet 
sufficiently,  by  the  force  of  a  powerful  and  sympa- 
thetic imagination.  Catherine  had  neither  passion 
nor  enthusiasm  nor  virtue.  Revenge  and  hatred,  if 
not  malice  and  rancour,  were  as  strange  to  her  nature 
as  gratitude  and  love  ;  nor  had  she  sufficient  imagi- 
nation to  realise  how  others  might  be  influenced  by 


1569]  The  Wars  of  Religion.  3 1 

emotions  of  which  she  herself  had  no  experience. 
Hence  the  defects  of  her  poHcy,  due  less  to  her  ina- 
bility to  see  that  the  tricks  and  devices,  which  might 
have  been  successful  in  some  petty  Italian  State,  were 
ill  adapted  to  the  wider  stage  and  different  con- 
ditions of  France,  than  to  the  assumption  that 
others  were  swayed  by  the  same  simple  motives  of 
self-interest  as  herself.  Thus  her  schemes  generally 
ended  in  failure,  though  she  was  a  clever,  unscrupu- 
lous  woman  with  insight  and  adroitness,  full  of 
energy  and  restless  activity  ;  as  indefatigable  in  the 
pursuit  of  her  ambitious  intrigues  as  she  had  been, 
when  younger,  in  hunting  the  deer  amid  the  forests 
of  Vincennes  and  Touraine.  s 

Since  it  seemed  to  the  Queen-Mother's  interest  to 
endeavour  to  keep  the  peace  between  the  Reformers 
and  their  enemies,  lest  she  should  be  at  the  mercy  of 
the  conquerors,  she  allowed  herself  to  be  guided  by 
the  Chancellor  L'Hopital,  a  sincere  advocate  of 
toleration,  and  a  true  patriot,  a  man,  says  a  contem- 
porary, "who  wore  the  lilies  in  his  heart." 

L'Hopital  had  shown  by  his  opening  address  to 
the  States-General,  in  which  he  expatiated  on  the  old 
maxim — one  faith,  one  law,  one  king — that  he,  a 
representative  of  those  moderate  men,  afterwards 
called  "  politicians,"  still  clung  to  the  Galilean  prin- 
ciple of  the  intimate  connection  between  Church  and 
State,  of  the  dependence  of  the  unity  of  the  one  on 
the  unity  of  the  other.  A  Frenchman  and  an  Eng- 
lishman, he  said,  might,  holding  the  same  faith,  live 
in  peace  together ;  not  so  two  citizens  of  the  same 
town  who  differ  in   religion.     He  dreamt  of  some 


32  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

compromise  acceptable  both  to  the  Huguenots 
and  to  the  orthodox.  But  of  such  a  compromise 
the  necessary  conditions  were,  first,  mutual  tolera- 
tion, and  secondly,  a  calm  discussion  of  the  points  at 
issue.  '  The  Chancellor  persuaded  the  Queen-Mother 
to  assent  to  an  edict,  known  as  the  Edict  of  January, 
by  which  all  breaches  of  the  public  peace  were  strictly 
forbidden  ;  and  toleration  promised  to  the  Protestant 
congregations,  provided  that  they  built  no  new 
places  of  worship,  restored  the  churches  they  had 
occupied  and  held  no  synods  without  the  sanction  of 
the  royal  council. 

But  a  conference  of  the  most  moderate  Protestant 
and  Romanist  theologians  at  Poissy  disclosed  the 
impossibility  of  a  compromise  when  the  points  at 
issue  were  fundamental ;  and  the  Regent,  in  return 
for  a  large  subsidy,  promised  the  clergy  to  maintain 
the  rights,  privileges  and  orthodoxy  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

The  "  Edict  of  January,"  although  very  note- 
worthy as  the  first  legal  recognition  obtained  by  the 
Reformed  Church,  was  merely  an  attempt  to  compel 
the  members  of  the  two  religions  to  live  peaceably 
together  under  the  protection  of  the  law.' 

It  was  intended  by  L'Hopital  to  be  a  temporary 
expedient,  lasting  only  till  some  compromise  could 
be  effected.  It  did  not  go  far  enough  to  satisfy  the 
majority  of  the  Huguenots,  whose  hopes  had  been 
raised  to  an  extravagant  pitch,  while  it  excited  the 
violent  opposition  of  the  Catholics  and  may  be  said 
to  have  given  the  signal  of  civil  war.  Every- 
where the  Huguenots  were  exposed  to  violence  and 


1569] 


The  Wars  of  Religion.  33 


insult,  and  vainly  importuned  the  law  courts  for 
protection  and  redress.  In  Paris  attempts  were  made 
by  the  mob  to  disturb  the  worship  of  the  Protestants 
in  the  suburbs.  Riot  and  bloodshed  followed.  The 
King's  council  ordered  the  townspeople  to  be  dis- 
armed. It  was  clear,  the  citizens  muttered,  that  the 
Court  intended  to  deliver  up  the  orthodox  people  of 
Paris  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Prince  of  Cond6 
and  his  armed  nobles.  Cond6  was  now  the  acknowl- 
edged leader  of  the  Huguenots.  His  credulous  and 
vacillating  brother,  Antony  of  Navarre,  had  preferred 
the  vague  and  deceitful  promises  of  Spain  to  his 
religion  and  his  party.  The  baits  by  which  he  was 
caught  give  the  measure  of  his  capacity.  The  king- 
dom of  Sardinia  and  conquests  on  the  African  coast, 
or  the  hand  of  Mary  Stuart  and  the  help  of  Spain 
to  make  good  her  pretensions  to  the  English  Crown: 
true  he  was  married  and  owed  his  title  and  the  greater 
part  of  his  dominions  to  his  wife,  but  the  Pope  might 
annul  his  marriage  with  a  heretic. 

The  first  service  which  Antony  of  Bourbon  did  his 
new  allies  was  to  demand  that  the  Admiral  Coligny 
should  be  dismissed  from  Court.  Coligny,  who  seems 
to  have  dreaded  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  more  than 
any  other  man,  and  to  have  foreseen  more  clearly 
the  evils  of  civil  war  and  the  dangers  of  his  party, 
voluntarily  left  Paris.  Catherine  endeavoured  to 
obtain  the  simultaneous  retirement  of  the  Catholic 
leaders.  But  the  Marshal  St.  Andr6,  a  man  enriched 
and  powerful  by  the  favour  of  Henry  II.,  refused  to 
go  to  Lyons,  the  seat  of  his  government,  and  spoke 
of   the  Queen-Mother  in  no   measured  terms.     He 

3 


34  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

said,  she  would  but  meet  with  her  deserts  if  she  were 
tied  in  a  sack  and  tossed  into  the  river.  The  Guises 
and  their  allies  agreed  to  meet  in  Paris  (March,  i'562) 
and  to  try  conclusions  with  Conde.  It  was  clear  that 
hostilities  could  not  long  be  averted. 

It  was  important  to  deprive  the  Huguenots  of  the 
sympathy  and  help  of  the  German  Lutherans.  No 
prince  had  greater  influence  among  the  German 
Protestants,  by  his  character  and  family  connections, 
than  Duke  Christopher  of  Wuj'temberg.  The  Duke 
of  Guise  and  his  brother  the  Cardinal  visited  him. 
They  were  prodigal  of  flattery  and  caresses.  They 
listened  to  the  arguments  of  his  theologians  and 
pronounced  them  reasonable,  nay  convincing.  The 
Duke  said  he  was  a  rough  soldief  and  did  not  profess 
to  understand  such  things,  but  it  seemed  to  him  that 
he  was  a  Lutheran.  The  Cardinal  declared  that  he 
would  as  soon  pray  in  a  black  gowm  as  a  red.  Both 
thanked  God  that  they  never  had  and  swore  that 
they  never  would  put  any  man  to  death  for  his 
religion's  sake.  The  first, act  of  the  Duke  on  his 
return  w^as,  as  he  passed  through  St.  Nicholas  in 
Lorraine,  to  order  the  execution  of  an  artisan  whose 
child  had  been  baptised  according  to  the  Lutheran 
rite !  On  reaching  Vassy,  a  small  manufacturing 
town,  whose  inhabitants  had  embraced  Calvinism, 
he  allowed  his  guards  to  fire  upon  a  barn  in  which 
they  were  assembled  for  their  Sunday  worship.  The 
Protestants  tried  to  barricade  the  door  and  a  horrid 
struggle  ensued,  if  indeed  that  can  be  called  a  strug- 
gle in  which  one  side  consisted  of  unarmed  towns- 
folk encumbered  by  women  and  children,  the  other 


1569]  The  Wars  of  Religion.  35 

of  veteran  soldiers  armed  to  the  teeth.  Sixty  men, 
women  and  children  were  killed  and  far  more 
wounded.  But  the  importance  of  the  "  Massacre  of 
Vassy,"  from  which  we  may  date  the  commencement 
of  the  wars  of  religion  which  were  to  desolate  France 
for  more  than  a  generation,  was  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  number  of  vactims  ;  far  more  atrocious  scenes 
of  bloodshed  had  taken  place  in  the  South,  yet  had 
excited  little  attention.  It  was  the  presence  of 
Guise  at  this  bold  violation  of  the  Edict  of  January, 
at  this  defiance  of  the  Huguenots  and  of  the  law, 
which  made  it  so  important.  The  most  notable  man 
in  the  Catholic  party  had  thrown  down  the  gauntlet, 
would  the  Protestants  dare  to  pick  it  up  ? 
'••  The  Catholic  preachers  glorified  the  slaughter  of  the 
heretics.  They  justified  it  by  the  example  of  Moses 
who  ha^  caused  the  worshippers-  of  the  golden  calf 
to  be  slain,  and  of  Jehu  whose  godly  zeal  had 
put  to  the*  sword  two  kings  and  twelve  hundred 
princes,  and  cast  out  Queen  Jezebel  to  be  eaten  by 
the  dogs.  The  irritation  .of  the  Protestants  was 
proportionate  to  the-  exultation  of  their  enemies^ 
They  sent  Beza,  the  most  eminent  as  well  as  the 
most  courtly  of  their  divines,  to  wait  upon  the  Queen 
and  to  demand  the  punishment  of  the  assassins  who 
violated  the  royal  edict.  These  requests  were  ar- 
dently supported  by  Conde,  who  offered  to  raise 
50,000  men  to  maintain  the  King's  authority.  The 
King  of  Navarre  on  the  other  hand  angrily  reproached 
Beza  with  stirring  up  civil  strife  :  "  Sire,"  replied  the 
divine,  "  it  is  true  that  it  is  for  the  Church  of  God 
to  receive  rather  than  to  give  blows,  but  remember. 


36  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

it  is  an  anvil  on  which  many  hammers  have  been 
broken." 

On  March  10,  Guise,  accompanied  by  other 
nobles  and  escorted  by  2,000  men-at-arms,  entered 
Paris.  The  people  hailed  him  as  their  deliverer  and 
received  him  with  royal  honours.  Cond^  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  city  and  fell  back  on  Meaux  in- 
stead of  hurrying  with  the  forces  at  his  command  to 
Fontainebleau,  whither  the  Queen-Mother  and  her 
children  had  retired,  and  thus  securing  for  his  party 
the  prestige  of  the  King's  name  and  presence. 

Catherine  had  repeatedly  written  urging  him  to 
protect  her,  the  King  and  the  nation  against  the 
men  who  would  overthrow  all  peace  and  order.  But 
before  the  Prince  made  up  his  mind  to  act,  the  op- 
portunity was  gone.  The  confederates  had  reached 
Fontainebleau,  and  although  the  Queen-Mother 
resisted  for  a  few  days,  and  even  attempted  flight, 
she  was  in  the  end  compelled  or  persuaded  to  return 
to  Paris. 

Conde  had  perhaps  been  delayed  by  the  hesitation 
of  Coligny.  The  Admiral  shrank  from  civil  war,  he 
recognised  also  more  clearly  than  his  friends  the 
weakness  of  his  party.  His  brothers  and  his  wife 
urged  him  to  join  the  Prince  ;  for  two  days  he 
refused  to  listen  to  their  arguments.  The  story  has 
often  been  told  how  during  the  night  he  was  aroused 
by  the  sobs  of  his  wife  :  "  Husband,  I  fear  lest  to 
be  so  wise  in  the  wisdom  of  this  world  prove  folly  in 
God's  sight  ;  you  Avill  be  the  murderer  of  those 
whose  murder  you  do  not  prevent."  "  Lay  your 
hand     on    your   heart,"    he    replied,    "  ask    yourself 


1569]  The  Wars  of  Religion.  37 

whether  you  are  ready  to  bear  failure  and  defeat, 
the  reproaches  of  enemies  and  friends,  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  many  who  judge  causes  by  the  event, 
treason,  exile,  dishonour,  nakedness,  hunger,  and, 
harder  to  endure,  the  hunger  of  your  children,  death 
on  the  scaffold  after  seeing  your  husband  suffer. 
Ponder  these  thing  for  three  weeks,  and  then,  if  you 
so  decide,  I  will  go  and  perish  with  you,  and  with 
our  friends."  "  The  three  weeks  are  already  passed," 
she  exclaimed,  "let  not  the  blood  of  the  victims  of 
three  weeks  be  upon  your  head,  or  I  shall  be  a  witness 
against  you  before  the  judgment-seat  of  God." 
Next  morning  the  Admiral  took  horse  with  his  house- 
hold and  his  brothers  to  join  the  Prince  of  Cond6 
at  Meaux,  and  the  civil  war  had  begun  which  was  to 
desolate  France  for  forty  years. 

Was  the  hesitation  of  Coligny  justified?  Had  the 
Protestants  any  alternative  to  an  appeal  to  the 
sword?  Some  writers  both  at  the  time  and  since 
have  maintained  that  if  the  Huguenots  had  continued 
to  submit  to  persecution  with  the  same  patience  as 
in  the  past,  their  doctrine  would  have  continued  to 
spread  ;  that  the  sight  of  their  sufferings  and  of 
their  virtues  would  have  converted  the  less  fanatical 
of  their  opponents  and  have  softened  the  hearts  of 
even  the  most  cruel.  Undoubtedly  the  number  of 
Protestants  in  France  diminished  after  the  first  civil 
war  ;  therefore  it  is  argued  the  war  was  the  cause  of 
that  diminution.  But  the  Great  Hound,  as  the 
Catholics  called  the  fanatical  mob,  had  been  slipped  ; 
before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  the  Protestants  of 
the  middle  classes  were  beine  massacred   or  robbed 


38  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

and  driven  into  exile  by  their  orthodox  neighbours. 
There  were  more  victims  in  1562  than  ten  years 
later  in  the  year  of  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
Soon  the  nobility  would  have  fared  no  better.  Even 
the  leaders  themselves,  had  they  not  taken  up  arms, 
would  have  been  sacrificed  to  the  jealous  ambition 
cloaked  by  religious  zeal  of  the  Guises  and  their 
allies.  No  patient  endurance  on  the  part  of  the 
Huguenots  would  have  disarmed  their  persecutors  ; 
and  the  time  was  past  when  such  patient  endurance 
could  be  expected  from  them.  Here  and  there  they 
were  and  felt  themselves  to  be  the  stronger  party. 
The  images  and  relics  of  the  Papists  were  an  abom- 
ination to  them  ;  on  these  at  any  rate  they  could 
avenge  the  sufferings  of  their  brethren.  But,  although 
with  few  exceptions  they  abstained  at  first  from 
injury  to  the  property  or  persons  of  Catholics,  the 
orthodox  population  resented  far  more  bitterly  the 
disfigurement  of  a  statue  of  the  Virgin,  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  toe  bone  of  St.  Crispin,  or  the  thumb  nail 
of  St.  Athanasius,  than  an  insult  to  a  nun  or  the 
assassination  of  a  friar. 

Yet,  although  we  hold  that  the  Protestants  had 
no  alternative  but  to  fight  for  their  existence,  when 
once  they  had  drawn  the  sword,  all  chance  of  France 
becoming  a  Protestant  country,  if  such  chance  ever 
existed,  was  at  an  end.  They  were  too  small  a 
minority  to  impose  their  faith  on  a  majority  whose 
fanaticism  and  zeal  were  inflamed  by  the  struggle. 

At  the  outset  the  numerical  superiority  of  the 
Catholics  was  to  some  extent  counterbalanced  by 
the  organisation  of  the  Protestant  churches,  which 


1569]  The  Wars  of  Religion.  39 

enabled  the  Huguenots  to  act  with  singular  una- 
nimity and  concert.  They  had  seized  many  of  the 
most  important  towns  before  their  adversaries  had 
even  begun  to  take  the  field.  It  was  also  counter- 
balanced by  the  fact  that  the  Huguenot  minority 
was  almost  entirely  composed  of  the  most  warlike, 
intelligent  and  industrious  classes  ;  that  in  short 
it  comprised  the  very  flower  of  the  French  people. 
The  noblest  traditions  of  feudal  chivalry,  the  culture 
of  the  Renaissance,  a  piety  inspired  and  sustained 
by  the  constant  study  of  the  Gospels  produced  men 
in  whom  the  best  characteristics  of  their  nation  were 
combined  with  a  moral  elevation,  a  purity  and 
dignity  of  character,  "  an  heroic  breath  of  soul  ani- 
mated by  a  simple  piety  and  chastened  by  a  chequered 
experience  "  rarely  if  ever  equalled.  By  the  side  of 
the  Colignys,  the  La  Noues  and  Du  Plessis-Mornays, 
the  characters  of  the  Eliots,  Hampdens  and  Hutchin- 
sons  of  our  own  civil  wars  appear  narrow  and  incom- 
plete, and  not  a  few  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  party 
were  worthy  of  such  leaders.  But  besides  their 
numerical  superiority  the  Catholics  had  three  great 
advantages  :  the  possession  of  the  King's  person ; 
the  control  of  the  capital  and  the  sympathy  of  its 
inhabitants  ;  the  command  of  the  financial  resources 
of  the  Government  and  of  the  clergy. 

The  contributions  of  their  churches  were  a  pre- 
carious resource,  insufficient  to  provide  for  the 
regular  payment  of  the  infantry  and  of  the  foreign 
mercenaries,  whom  the  Protestants  were  obliged  to 
employ.  The  cavalry  which  formed  the  strength  of 
the  Huguenot  armies  was  indeed  composed  almost 


40  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1512- 

entirely  of  the  gentry,  who  served  at  their  own  ex- 
pense. It  was  their  poverty  which  compelled  them, 
armed  only  with  rapier  and  pistols,  to  encounter  the 
mailclad  lancers  of  the  royal  armies.  Few  among 
them  could  afford  the  high  price  of  a  trained  charger, 
able  to  carry  his  own  and  his  rider's  armour.  But 
though,  in  La  Noue's  phrase,  the  Huguenot  gentry 
were  better  armed  with  courage  than  corselets,  the 
lightness  of  their  equipment  had  its  advantages.  It 
enabled  them  by  the  rapidity  of  their  movements  to 
hold  their  own  against  the  greater  numbers  of  their 
enemies.  In  battle,  the  cumbrous  defensive  armour 
and  ponderous  lance  of  the  man-at-arms  made  him  a 
formidable  antagonist,  but  only  when  he  could  fight  in 
his  own  way  and  on  suitable  ground.  A  more  serious 
disadvantage  was  the  difficulty  of  enforcing  dis- 
cipline among  these  well-born  volunteers,  of  inducing 
them  to  serve  far  away  from  their  homes  and  the 
impossibility  of  keeping  them  together  for  a  long 
campaign.  The  dangers  incurred  by  their  families 
during  their  absence,  the  necessity  of  obtaining 
further  resources,  could  always  be  alleged  as  an 
excuse  for  leaving  the  army. 

The  leadership  of  Conde  was  another  source  of 
weakness  to  the  Protestant  cause.  Lewis  of  Bourbon 
was  more  sincerely  attached  to  the  Reformed  Reli- 
gion than  his  brother,  yet  the  licence  of  his  life  was 
strangely  at  variance  with  Puritan  morality.  More 
than  once  Calvin  had  rebuked  him  for  his  "  mad  in- 
trigues," which  were  not  less  dangerous  to  the  cause 
than  to  his  own  salvation.  His  good  nature,  his 
bravery    and    his  chivalry    were    far  from    compen- 


15691  The  Wars  of  Religion,         '        41 

sating  for  his  political  incapacity  and  reckless- 
ness. On  most  occasions  the  Prince,  much  to  his 
credit,  showed  due  deference  to  the  wisdom  and  ex- 
perience of  Coligny,  his  uncle  by  marriage ;  yet 
there  were  times  when  the  Admiral  must  have  felt 
how  greatly  the  necessity  of  working  in  harmony 
with  such  a  man,  of  leading  while  he  appeared  to 
follow,  increased  the  difficulties  of  the  situation. 
y  We  have  not  space  to  follow  the  events  of  the  wars 
of  religion,  except  so  far  as  they  immediately  affected 
the  fortunes  of  Henry  of  Navarre.  Nor  is  it  im- 
portant to  remember  the  terms  of  treaties  and  of 
edicts  of  toleration  which  were  never  observed,  nor 
perhaps  intended  to  be  observed,  or  the  details  of 
battles  which  decided  nothing,  and  to  each  of  which 
we  might  apply  the  answer  of  Marshal  Vielleville 
when  asked  by  Charles  IX.  who  had  won  the  day  at 
St.  Denis  (1567).  "  Neither  your  Majesty  nor  the 
Prince  of  Cond6,  but  King  Philip  of  Spain,  since  as 
many  gallant  gentlemen  have  fallen  on  both  sides,  as 
would  have  sufficed  to  drive  the  Spaniards  out  of 
Flanders." 

One  by  one  the  men  fell  whose  ambition  had  led 
them  to  provoke  the  war  in  the  name  of  Him  who 
had  said  that  whoso  draws  the  sword  shall  perish  by 
the  sword ;  St.  Andre  at  Dreux,  Antony  of  Bourbon 
in  the  same  year  before  Rouen  (1562);  in  the  next 
year  Francis  of  Guise  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin  ; 
four  years  later  the  Constable  Anne  of  Mont- 
morency at  St.  Denis. ; 

In  the  summer  of  1568  the  Chatillons  and  the 
Prince  of  Conde    escaped   almost    miraculously  an 


42  Henry  of  Navarre. 


[1512 


attempt  to  seize  them  in  time  of  peace.  A  sudden 
and  unexpected  flood  of  the  Loire  saved  from  their 
pursuers  the  httle  band  of  women  and  children  who 
escorted  by  barely  150  men  had  traversed  the  breadth 
of  hostile  France  to  gain  the  sheltering  walls  of  La 
Rochelle. 

Early  in  the  next  year  (1569)  the  Prince  and  the 
Admiral  were  marching  towards  the  upper  Loire  to 
effect  a  junction  with  the  Protestants  of  Languedoc, 
when  want  of  discipline  brought  on  an  engagement 
between  the  vanguard  led  by  Coligny,  and  the  Cath- 
olic army  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou. 
Conde,  hearing  that  the  Admiral  was  attacked  by 
overwhelming  numbers,  galloped  to  his  assistance  at 
the  head  of  his  staff  and  escort.  As  he  was  about  to 
charge,  a  kick  from  the  horse  of  his  brother-in-law, 
the  Count  of  La  Rochefoucauld,  broke  his  leg.  The 
bone  protruded  through  his  jack-boot,  but  he  refused 
to  leave  the  saddle,  and,  as  he  gathered  his  little 
troop  around  him,  exclaimed  :  "  Nobles  of  France, 
this  is  the  moment  we  have  longed  for  ;  remember  in 
what  state  Lewis  of  Bourbon  charges  for  Christ  and 
his  country," 

The  onslaught  of  the  Prince  and  his  guard  broke 
through  the  Catholic  ranks,  but  overwhelmed  by 
numbers  he  was  at  length  borne  from  his  horse^  He 
was  unable  to  rise  and  had  surrendered  to  a  gentle- 
man whom  he  knew,  when  the  Captain  of  the  Guards 
of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  came  up  and  shot  him  from 
behind,  by  the  command  of  his  master,  as  was  gen- 
erally believed. 

The  Battle  of  Jarnac,  so  this  engagement  was  called, 


1569]  The  Wars  of  Religion.  43 

was  little  more  than  a  skirmish,  but  the  death  of 
Conde  was  an  event  of  importance. 

So  far  as  the  presence  of  princes  in  their  army  was 
an  answer  to  those  who  affected  to  despise  the 
Huguenots,  they  did  not  suffer  by  Condi's  death,  for 
no  sooner  had  the  news  reached  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
than  she  hurried  to  the  camp  at  Cognac  with  her  son 
and  his  cousin,  the  heir  of  the  murdered  Prince. 

In  the  presence  of  the  army,  the  young  Prince  of 
B^arn,  Henry  of  Bourbon,  swore  '*  on  his  honour,  soul 
and  life  "  never  to  abandon  the  cause,  and  was  hailed 
as  their  leader  by  the  acclamations  of  the  soldiery. 

The  Queen  herself  solemnly  put  on  her  son's 
armour.  The  joy  of  maintaining  so  just  a  cause 
raised  him,  she  said,  above  his  age,  and  her  above  her 
sex. 

But,  although  accompanied  by  the  two  young 
Princes,  whom  the  Catholics  mockingly  called  his 
pages,  Coligny  had  henceforward  the  undivided  com- 
mand of  the  Huguenot  army  as  well  as  the  principal 
voice  in  determining  the  policy  of  his  party. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    PARENTAGE    OF    HENRY    OF    BOURBON — HIS 
EDUCATION   AND    MARRIAGE — ST.    BARTHOL- 
OMEW— THE   PEACE   OF   MONSIEUR. 

1555— 1576. 

T  the  beginning  of  the  i6th  century  the 
three  branches  into  which  the  House 
of  Bourbon,  descended  from  Robert 
of  Clermont,  sixth  son  of  St.  Lewis, 
had  divided,  were  represented  re- 
spectively by  Peter,  Duke  of  Bour- 
bon, husband  of  Anne  of  France,  the  daughter  of 
Lewis  XL,  Charles,  Count  of  Montpensier  and  Charles, 
Count  of  Vendome.  The  only  child  of  the  Duke  of 
Bourbon  became  the  wife  of  her  cousin  Montpensier, 
who  with  her  hand  obtained  the  duchy,  but  fell  child- 
less, a  traitor  and  an  exile,  leading  the  army  of 
Charles  V.  to  the  sack  of  Rome.  By  his  death  Ven- 
dome became  the  head  of  his  family  and  heir  to  the 
French  throne,  should  the  male  lineage  of  the  House 
of  Valois  fail.  His  son  Antony  of  Bourbon  was 
brave  and  good-natured,  showing  flashes  of  gener- 
osity and  enthusiasm,  but  unstable  and  licentious, 
easily  influenced  by  those  around  him,  as  dangerous 

44 


Parentage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.         45 

and  as  little  to  be  trusted,  said  Calvin,  as  if  his  fits  of 
zeal  had  been  the  calculated  hypocrisy  of  a  traitor. 
Such  as  he  was  he  obtained  the  hand  of  the  greatest 
heiress  in  France,  Jane  d'Albret,  the  daughter  of 
Henry  d'Albret,  King  of  Navarre,  and  Margaret  of 
Angouleme,  the  sister  of  Francis  I. 

The  saying  of  Napoleon,  that  Africa  begins  at  the 
Pyrenees,  can  scarcely  fail  to  occur  to  the  traveller 
who  climbs  to  the  Port  de  Venasque,  or  to  any  other 
of  the  high  passes,  which  are  little  more  than  notches 
cut  into  a  continuous  wall  of  mountains,  and  turns 
from  the  green  valleys  and  chestnut-clad  slopes  of 
France  to  the  stony  mountain  ridges  which  rise  on 
the  Spanish  side,  one  behind  the  other,  till  they 
gradually  sink  into  what  appears  an  arid  table-land. 
Here  at  any  rate  he  must  believe  Nature  herself  has 
set  the  limits  of  two  nations;  yet  during  the  Middle 
Ages  the  Pyrenees  separated  nothing.  On  the  east 
the  counts  of  Barcelona,  afterwards  Kings  of  Aragon, 
were  the  lords  of  wide  domains  in  Languedoc  and 
Provence,  which  before  the  i6th  century  had  shrunk 
to  the  county  of  Roussillon.  On  the  west  the  Kings 
of  Navarre  owing  fealty  to  the  French  Crown  for 
other  possessions,  ruled  from  the  Ebro  to  the  Adour 
as  sovereign  Princes  over  a  territory  inhabited  by  a 
population  mainly  Basque  in  origin. 

The  marriage  of  Jane  of  Navarre  with  Philip  the 
Fair,  in  1285,  united  for  a  time  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
varre to  France.  In  1 328  her  granddaughter,  excluded 
by  the  Salic  law  from  the  French  throne,  inherited 
Navarre,  which  passed  by  marriage  successively  to 
the  House  of  Evreux,  Foix  and  Albret. 


46  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

In  1 5 12  Ferdinand  of  Spain  conquered  all  Navarre 
south  of  the  Pyrenees,  on  the  pretext  that  John 
d'Albret,  King  of  Navarre  by  right  of  his  wife 
Catherine  de  Foix,  had  refused  a  passage  through  his 
dominions  to  the  Spanish  troops,  and  had  concluded 
a  treaty  with  Lewis  XII. 

The  kingdom  of  Navarre  was  henceforth  reduced 
to  a  few  square  leagues  of  territory  on  the  French  side 
of  the  Pyrenees  ;  but  its  ruler  w^as  still  a  sovereign 
monarch,  who  paid  homage  neither  to  France  nor 
Spain,  while  Beam  and  the  other  fiefs  of  the  houses 
of  Foix  and  Albret  supplied  the  means  for  keeping 
up  some  show  of  kingly  state.  It  did  not  therefore 
seem  a  wholly  disproportionate  match  when  in  1527 
Francis  I.  allowed  his  sister  Margaret  to  marry  Henry 
d'Albret,  the  son  of  John  d'Albret  and  Catherine  of 
Foix.  The  county  of  Armagnac,  given  to  her  in 
perpetuity  as  part  of  her  dower,  very  conven- 
iently rounded  off  the  possessions  of  the  Kings  of 
Navarre. 

Margaret,  lively  and  high-spirited,  eagerly  inter- 
ested both  in  this  world  and  the  next,  had  before 
been  ill  matched  with  the  dull  and  lethargic  Duke 
of  Alengon,  to  whose  cowardice  at  Pavia  the  defeat 
of  the  French  and  the  capture  of  their  King,  her 
hero  and  her  idol,  had  been  ascribed.  Her  fancy 
probably  fixed  on  Henry  of  Albret  because  he 
possessed  those  brilliant  qualities  in  which  her  late 
husband  had  been  wanting.  He  had  fought  with 
the  same  valour  as  Francis,  he  had  shared  his  cap- 
tivity till  he  made  his  escape  under  romantic  v.ircum- 
stances,  he    was    chivalrous — as    chivalry   was    then 


15761       Parentage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.         47 

understood — ready-witted  and  justly  popular  among 
his  subjects. 

The  King  of  Navarre  was  twelve  years  younger 
than  his  bride,  but  it  was  not  disparity  in  years  only 
which  made  the  second  marriage  of  Margaret  as 
little  happy  as  the  first.  It  was  more  bitter  to  be 
the  victim  of  misplaced  love  than  of  a  match  imposed 
by  political  necessity.  Henry  of  Albret,  who  had 
neither  elevation  of  character  nor  fixity  of  purpose,  a 
libertine  in  an  age  when  what  would  now  be  licence 
was  accounted  sober  and  godly  living,  was  not  likely 
to  be  faithful  to  a  plain  and  elderly  wife,  or  even  con- 
siderate in  the  manner  of  his  infidelity.  There  may 
possibly  have  been  faults  on  both  sides.  The  Queen 
was  an  author,  a  theologian  and  a  poetess  ;  in  short, 
a  most  superior  woman,  accustomed  to  the  homage 
and  flattery  of  courtiers,  scholars  and  divines. 
"  Madame,  you  would  know  too  much,"  her  hus- 
band is  said  to  have  exclaimed  with  an  irritation 
perhaps  pardonable,  had  it  not  been  emphasised  with 
a  box  on  the  Queen's  ears.  Nor  could  Margaret's 
blind  devotion  to  her  selfish  brother,  however  amia- 
ble a  weakness,  have  been  other  than  an  additional 
element  of  discomfort  in  her  married  life. 

Henry  of  Albret  would  have  been  well  pleased  that 
his  only  child  Jane  should'have  married  Philip  of  Spain; 
and  since  the  match  would  have  given  the  Spanish 
house  a  sure  title  to  Navarre  and  a  firm  footing  on  the 
French  side  of  the  Pyrenees  it  might  not  have  been 
displeasing  to  Charles  V.  But  the  mere  suggestion 
of  such  an  arrangement  was  alarming  to  Francis  I., 
and  his  sister  would  not  entertain  the  thought  of  any 


48  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti555- 

opposition  to  the  King's  wish  ;  she  would  sooner, 
she  said,  see  her  daughter  dead  than  do  him  a 
disservice. 

After  the  accession  of  Henry  II.  (1547)  Jane,  now 
a  handsome  brunette  of  seventeen,  was  among  the 
gayest  of  his  Court,  and  the  King,  haunted  Hke  his 
father  by  the  fear  that  Spain  might  with  her  hand 
obtain  the  northern  slope  of  the  Pyrenees,  was  well 
pleased  to  see  her  encourage  the  addresses  of  Antony 
of  Bourbon,  a  suitor  but  little  approved  by  her 
parents.  Their  opposition  yielded  to  the  royal 
will,  and  the  marriage  took  place  at  Moulins  on 
October  20,  1548. 

Henry  of  Bourbon  was  the  last  of  three  sons  born 
to  Jane  of  Albret  and  her  husband.  His  little 
brothers  died  in  their  first  infancy.  The  eldest  was 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  a  chilly  old  lady  who  so 
carried  into  practice  her  maxim  that  it  was  better  to 
sweat  than  to  shiver,  that  no  breath  of  air  was  ever 
allowed  to  reach  the  hot  and  stifling  rooms  where 
the  unfortunate  baby  was  slowly  suffocated  in  his 
swaddling  clothes.  The  next  child  was  dropped  by 
his  nurse  and  a  gentleman  who  were  amusing  him,  or 
themselves,  by  tossing  him  in  and  out  of  a  window. 
His  hurt  might  have  been  cured  had  it  not  been  con- 
cealed by  the  terrified  culprits. 

The  King  of  Navarre,  anxious  for  an  heir,  de- 
clared that,  since  his  daughter  so  little  understood 
how  to  look  after  her  children,  the  next  baby  must 
be  born  in  Beam,  and  that  he  himself  would  see  that 
it  was  properly  brought  up.  Accordingly,  although 
it    was    winter,    Jane    hurried    in    a    fortnight    from 


j576]       Edtication  of  Heiity  of  Bourbo7i.         49 

Picardy  to  Pau  where,  ten  days  later,  Henry  of 
Bourbon  came  into  the  world  during  the  night  of 
December  13,  1555.  : 

Jane  and  her  husband  had  seen  with  some  anxiety 
the  influence  gained  by  his  mistresses  over  the  King 
of  Navarre ;  they  feared  that  his  will  might  not 
be  satisfactory.  The  Princess  hinted  to  her  father 
that  she  would  like  to  see  it.  He  replied  :  "  You 
shall  have  it  to  keep,  if  you  will  give  mc  in  exchange 
a  lusty  grandson,  and  sing  when  he  first  sees  the 
light,  for  I  want  no  whimpering,  puling  baby !  " 
It  has  often  been  told  how  the  bargain  was  kept. 
How  the  King  brought  to  his  daughter's  room  his 
will  in  a  golden  casket,  and  received  in  exchange  the 
new-born  infant  which  he  wrapped  in  a  fold  of  his 
dressing-gown,  delighted  to  see  it  joyously  nod  its 
head  and  suck  its  lips  when  they  were  rubbed 
with  a  clove  of  garlic  and  moistened  with  a  drop  of 
Gascon  wine.  It  was  perhaps  this  precocious  indul- 
gence which  gave  the  infant  a  distaste  for  its  natural 
food.  Nurse  after  nurse  was  tried,  and  it  was  with 
the  eighth  that  the  little  Henry  was  sent  to  a  castle 
in  the  mountains  of  Beam,  where  the  air  was  keenest 
and  most  bracing,  to  be  brought  up  according  to  the 
directions  of  his  grandfather,  under  the  care  of 
Madame  de  Miossans,  a  connection  of  the  Bour- 
bons. 

Historians  tell  us  how  the  King  of  Navarre  insisted 
that  the  child  should  run  about  barefoot,  join  in 
the  rough  sports  of  the  village  lads,  and  live  on 
the  national  porridge.  Since,  however,  Henry  of 
Albret  ^died  when  his  grandson  was  only  two  years 


50  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

old,we  may  surmise  that  this  hardening  process  was 
scarcely  begun  during  his  hfctime. 

On  the  old  King's  death,  his  daughter  and  her  hus- 
band hurried  to  take  possession  of  their  inheritance, 
and  at  once  sent  for  their  little  son,  whom  they  took 
with  them  to  the  French  Court,  where  their  interests 
required  their  presence.  Henry  II.  was  attracted  by 
the  bold  prattle  of  the  child  and  made  some  pro- 
posal that  he  should  be  affianced  to  his  daughter 
Marguerite,  his  senior  by  six  months.  The  King 
also  offered  to  have  him  educated  with  his  own 
children,  but  this  Jane  refused,  and  returning  to 
B^arn  took  her  son  with  her.  There  he  remained 
till  the  death  of  Francis  II.  (1560),  and  there  we  may 
suppose  the  education  began  which  helped  to  make 
Henry  of  Navarre,  in  the  |)hrase  of  a  Protestant 
writer,  "  that  iron  wedge  tempered  by  God,  to  cleave 
the  hard  knot  of  our  calamities."  If  it  was  Henry 
of  Albret  who  determined  that  his  grandson 
should  be  no  effeminate  weakling,  but  a  true  moun- 
taineer, frugal,  active  and  enduring,  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  must  at  least  have  the  credit  of  having  carried 
out  her  father's  intention.  Nor  was  the  rod  spared. 
"  Whip  the  Dauphin  well,"  wrote  Henry  IV.,  "  when- 
ever he  is  naughty.  I  know  by  my  own  experience 
there  is  nothing  in  the  world  so  profitable.  I  was 
constantly  thrashed  when  of  his  age."  Graver 
studies  were  not  neglected.  His  first  tutor  was 
one  La  Gaucherie,  a  man  of  learning  who,  like  the 
great  majority  of  scholars,  had  adopted  the  opinions 
of  the  Reformers.  He  was  probably  chosen  by 
Antony  of  Bourbon,  at  whose  invitation  "  the  Ven- 


1576]       Education  of  Henry   of  Bourbon.         5 1 

erable  Company  of  the  pastors  of  Geneva  "  had  sent 
Theodore  Beza  (de  Beze)  to  Nefac,  to  instruct  the 
royal  family  in  the  doctrine  of  Calvin  (July,  1556), 
The  convictions  of  Antony  were  fleeting  and  super- 
ficial, the  deeper  nature  of  his  wife  was  less  easily 
stirred.  "  In  your  family,"  wrote  a  correspondent  of 
her  daughter,  "  by  some  reversal  of  the  Salic  law, 
constancy  is  the  exclusive  heritage  of  the  women." 
Jane  was  slow  to  embrace  the  faith  in  defence  of 
which  she  afterwards  hazarded  her  possessions,  her 
children  and  her  life.  Beza  wrote  that  the  King  of 
Navarre  showed  great  devotion.  Every  one  be- 
lieved that  he  thought  of  nothing  but  the  means 
whereby  Christ's  Kingdom  might  be  advanced,  while 
the  Queen  his  wife  was  very  cold,  fearing  to  give  the 
Spanish  or  French  King  a  pretext  for  seizing  her 
dominions,  and  unwilling  to  sacrifice  the  pleasures  of 
this  world. 

.  It  was  not  till  1560  that  Jane  abjured  the  errors  of 
Rome.  "  Hearing  the  news  of  the  imprisonment  of 
the  Prince  of  Conde  and  of  the  plots  formed  against 
her  husband,  as  well  as  that  the  Spaniards  were  pre- 
paring to  seize  by  surprise  her  principality  of  B^arn 
and  what  she  still  retained  of  Navarre,  the  Queen, 
seeing  that  her  trust  in  man  availed  nothing,  and 
touched  to  the  quick  by  the  love  of  God,  had  re- 
course to  Him  as  to  her  only  refuge."  No  doubt 
she  saw  the  answer  to  her  prayers  in  the  death  of 
Francis  II.  and  the  release  of  her  brother-in-law  and 
husband. 

La  Gaucherie,  like  a  more  celebrated  educator  of 
the  time,  Beroalde,  taught  the  dead  languages  orally, 


52  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

a  method  by  which  surprising  results  appear  some- 
times to  have  been  obtained.  Henry  learnt  Latin 
sufficiently  well  for  practical  purposes  ;  of  Greek  he 
seems  only  to  have  known  a  few  tags,  w'hich  his  tutor 
made  him  learn  by  rote,  parrot-fashion.,^  He  was 
probably  not  a  very  apt  or  patient  pupil.  His 
wonderful  physical  activity,  or  rather  abnormal  rest- 
lessness, must  have  made  all  sedentary  study  difficult 
and  unprofitable.  In  later  years,  when  after  a  long 
day's  hunting  his  w^eary  attendants  could  scarcely 
stand,  he  could  not  rest,  but  must  move  about  or 
dance  ;  even  when  he  was  past  middle  life  his  sub- 
jects wondered  how  a  Prince  so  constantly  in  the 
saddle  or  at  the  tennis  court  had  time  for  affairs  of 
state.  No  wonder  that  a  man  who  was  movement 
incarnate  could  scarce  find  leisure  or  patience  to  read 
a  book.> 

.._'  All  Henry's  childhood  was  not  spent  in  the  brac- 
ing air  of  the  Pyrenees  and  in  the  healthy  moral 
atmosphere  of  the  more  and  more  Puritan  Court  of 
Nerac  or  Pau.  After  the  death  of  Francis  H.  the 
Queen  of  Navarre,  bringing  her  children  with  her, 
joined  her  husband  at  the  French  Court.  We  have 
already  seen  how  Antony  of  Bourbon  allowed  him- 
self to  be  outwitted  by  the  Queen-Mother  and 
befooled  by  the  Guises  and  Spain.  Jane,  indignant 
at  the  weak  inconstancy  of  her  husband,  retired  to 
her  hereditary  dominions.  Antony  kept  his  son 
with  him,  but  neither  dismissed  his  Protestant  tutor 
La  Gaucherie,  nor  even  seriously  insisted  upon  his 
attending  !Mass.  Probably  the  recent  orthodoxy  of 
the  King  of  Navarre  had  no  other  root  than  his  am- 


15761       Education  of  Henry   of  Bourbon.         53 

bition.  Such  religious  convictions  as  he  ma}-  have 
possessed  remained  unchanged.  The  heretical  edu- 
cation of  the  Prince  of  Beam  was  however  supple- 
mented by  such  instruction  as  a  boy  of  nine  could 
obtain  at  the  College  of  Navarre,*  where  in  a  desul- 
tory fashion  he  attended  lectures  with  two  other 
young  Princes,  his  name-sakes,  Henry  of  Valois  and 
Henry  of  Guise. 

After  Antony  of  Bourbon  had  fallen  before  Rouen 
and  Cond6  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  Dreux  (De- 
cember, 1562),  the  Queen-Mother,  fearing  nothing  so 
much  as  the  growing  power  of  the  Guises,  was 
anxious  to  conciliate  the  Huguenots.  She  therefore 
allowed  Jane  of  Navarre  to  send  for  her  son.  But  it 
seemed  very  important  to  Catherine  and  her  council 
to  keep  under  their  control  and  influence  a  boy  who 
was  the  head  of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  the  heir  to 
vast  possessions  and  who  would  be  a  hostage  for  the 
good  behaviour  of  his  mother,  for  she  more  and  more 
identified  her  interests  with  those  of  the  Huguenot 
party.  He  was  therefore  urgently  invited  to  return 
to  Court  in  the  name  of  Charles  IX.,  w^ho  had  now 
attained  his  nominal  majority.) 

_,The  Queen  of  Navarre  did  not  think  it  expedient 
to  disregard  the  King's  wish.  She  had  been  excom- 
municated by  the  Pope,  and  a  conspiracy  had  been 
formed  to  betray  her  into  the  power  of  Philip  H., 
who,  so  it  was  reported,  hoped  to  merit  the  special 


*  The  College  of  Navarre,  one  of  the  oldest  colleges  attached  to  the 
University  of  Paris,  founded  in  1304  by  Jane  of  Navarre,  wife  of 
Philip  the  Fair,  had  at  all  times  been  especially  distinguished  by 
royal  favour. 


54  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti555- 

favour  and  indulgence  of  heaven  by  an  aiito-da-fif,  of 
which  a  queen  should  be  the  victim,  while  he  trusted 
to  secure  the  possession  of  her  dominions  by  the 
eternal  captivity  of  her  children.  The  French  Gov- 
ernment had  interfered  eneri^etically  on  her  behalf 
at  Rome  and  she  might  need  the  same  help  against 
Spain.  She  therefore  sent  her  son  once  more  to  a 
court  where  he  would  be  beyond  her  care  and  ex- 
posed to  influences  which  she  could  not  but  dread.  \ 
The  Prince  of  Beam  accompanied  Charles  IX.  and 
the  Queen-Mother  during  a  long  progress  through 
the  kingdom  (March,  1564,  to  December,  1565).  It 
is  probable  that  in  this  wandering  court  the  book- 
learning  of  Henry  made  no  great  progress,  although 
he  is  said  under  the  supervision  of  La  Gaucherie  to 
have  completed  a  translation  of  the  Commentaries 
of  Caesar.  But  he  must  have  learnt  much  far  more 
useful  to  a  future  ruler  of  men  than  Greek  and  Latin 
syntax,  perhaps  also  much  that  had  better  been  un- 
learnt. For  the  sharp-eyed,  quick-witt,ed  and  ready- 
tongued  boy  of  twelve,  who  appeared^  says  an  eye- 
witness, several  years  older  than  his  age,^  and  whom 
Catherine  liked  to  have  about  her,  for  the  sake  of 
his  bold  and  lively  sallies,  must  have  seen  through 
the  thin  veil  of  decorum  spread  over  a  court,  the 
ladies  of  Avhich  were  allowed  at  their  will  to  be  "  vo- 
taresses of  Dian  or  of  Venus,"  provided  that  their 
intrigues  were  serviceable,  or  at  least  no  hindrance, 
to  the  policy  of  their  mistress, 

v^  But  though  the  knowledge  of  manners  acquired 
among  the  courtiers  of  the  Florentine  must  have 
been  singularly  unedifying,  a  progress  through  France 


1576]      Educatioti  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.         55 

which  lasted  nearly  two  years,  must  have  taught  the 
young  Prince  better  than  the  care  of  any  tutor  to 
know  the  provinces,  the  cities  and  the  men  by  whose 
side  and  against  whom  he  was  destined  to  fight  and 
whom  he  was  afterwards  to  reunite  under  his  sceptre.3 

In  the  course  of  this  progress  the  Court  visited 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  at  Nerac,  but  it  was  not  till 
Jane  had  returned  this  visit  in  the  following  year  and 
had  again  entertained  the  King  and  his  mother  in 
her  Picard  county  of  Marie,  that  she  was  allowed  to 
take  her  son  back  with  her  to  Beam.  She  seems  to 
have  been  satisfied  that  by  the  care  of  his  tutor  her 
boy  had  escaped  the  contagion  of  the  Court  ;  for 
(December,  1566)  she  wrote  to  Beza  that  it  was  to  La 
Gaucherie  that  Henry  owed  "  that  root  of  piety, 
which  by  God's  grace  has  now  been  so  implanted 
in  his  heart  by  godly  precepts,  that  it  already  puts 
forth  both  branch  and  fruit."  I 

.Henry,  now  thirteen,  had  during  the  latter  half  of 
his  short  life  spent  most  of  his  time  at  Court,  and,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  his  studies  were  directed  by  his  Calvinist 
tutor,  had  shared  the  education  of  the  Valois  Princes  ; 
but  for  the  next  two  years  he  was  trained  physically, 
intellectually  and  morally  under  the  eye  of  his 
mother.  The  hardy  education  of  his  childhood  was 
resumed.  He  was  taught  to  live  a  frugal  and  active 
life,  to  endure  fatigue  and  privation,  to  excel  not 
only  in  riding,  fencing  and  tennis,  the  universal  ac- 
complishments of  a  gentleman,  but  also  to  run  and 
wrestle  and  to  climb  the  rocks  barefoot  in  pursuit  of 
chamois  and  bear.  La  Gaucherie  was  succeeded  in 
the  office  of  tutor  by  a  more  eminent  scholar,  Flo- 


56  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

rent  Chrestien,  the  pupil  of  Henry  Stephens,  the 
friend  of  De  Thou,  a  man  whose  friendship  was 
sought  and  valued  even  by  Ronsard  and  Pibrac, 
whom  he  had  engaged  in  theological  controversy. 
The  Prince  of  Beam's  scholarship  apparently  im- 
proved under  Chrestien's  tuition  and  he  became  in 
Scaliger's  opinion  no  bad  judge  of  Latin  style,  yet  it 
is  probable  that  classical  studies  were  not  much  in- 
sisted on,  since  the  Queen  thought  it  more  important 
that  he  should  know  the  history  of  his  own  and  other 
countries  and  the  languages  of  Italy  and  Spain. 
Chrestien  afterwards  accompanied  his  pupil  to  the 
camp  of  the  Huguenot  army  and  showed  himself  as 
capable  of  using  a  sword  as  a  pen  in  the  defence  of 
his  religion,  no  doubt  to  the  advantage  of  his  influ- 
ence over  the  Prince. 

Michelet  fancifully  speculates  how  far  Henry  of 
Bourbon's  versatility  and  many-sidedness  of  character 
may  have  been  due  to  the  rapid  succession  of  wet- 
nurses  during  his  infancy.  We  might  more  plausibly 
seek  to  explain  it  on  the  principle  of  "heredity," 
and  point  out  that  he  was  the  descendant  of  the 
Foix,  the  Graillis  and  the  Albrets,  half  princes,  half 
adventurers,  who  pushed  their  fortunes  by  love  and 
war,  amid  the  quarrels  of  more  powerful  neighbours: 
that  he  was  the  grandson,  of  the  mystical  and 
romantic  yet  alert  and  cheerful  Margaret  of  Angou- 
leme  and  of  the  popularity-loving,  affable  and  jovial 
but  licentious  and  superficial  Henry  of  Albret ;  the 
son  of  the  determined,  passionate  and  religious 
Queen  of  Navarre  and  of  the  weak  and  inconstant 
though  physically  brave  Antony  of  Bourbon.     But 


1576]      Education  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.         57 

it  is  perhaps  more  profitable  to  bear  in  mind  how 
various  were  the  influences  to  which  the  boyhood 
of  Henry  was  exposed.  How  useful  an  education, 
though  dangerous  to  any  strength  or  depth  of  moral 
and  religious  conviction,  it  was,  that  the  Prince  who 
was  destined  to  reunite  the  jarring  factions  and  sects 
of  France,  should  have  been  from  his  earliest  youth 
equally  at  home  in  the  Tuileries  or  the  Louvre, 
among  the  motley  crowd  of  Italian  adventurers,  in- 
triguing priests,  dissolute  gallants,  ambitious  nobles 
and  unscrupulous  statesmen,  in  the  little  court  of 
Nerac  and  Pau,  the  asylum  and  stronghold  of  French 
Protestantism,  in  the  farms  and  cottages  of  the 
Gascon  peasantry  and  in  the  camps  of  the  Huguenot 
veterans. 

After  the  battle  of  Jarnac,  Coligny,  who  had  been 
joined  by  a  powerful  body  of  German  auxiliaries, 
was  compelled  by  the  impatience  of  his  followers  to 
besiege  Poitiers  and  afterwards,  at  Montcontour,  to 
engage  with  inferior  forces  the  army  of  the  Duke  of 
Anjou.  Their  superior  numbers  and  a  field  of  battle 
well  suited  to  the  manoeuvres  of  heavy  cavalry  gave 
the  Papists  a  victory  loudly  celebrated  throughout 
Catholic  Europe.  Yet  the  results  of  the  victory 
were  unimportant. 

Charles  IX.,  jealous  of  his  brother's  glory,  joined 
the  army,  and  sat  down  before  St.  Jean  d'Angely, 
wasting  three  months  and  the  lives  of  6,000  men. 
The  Admiral,  accompanied  by  the  young  princes  of 
Beam  and  Cond6,  after  throwing  strong  garrisons 
into  the  Protestant  towns  of  Poitou,  led  the  remains 
of  his  cavalry  into  the  South,  where  he  was  joined 


V 


58  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

by  numerous  partisans  and  soon  found  himself  once 
more  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  force. 

It  was  clear  that  without  the  help  of  Spain  the 
Huguenots  could  not  be  crushed;  but  Philip  II.  was 
fully  occupied  by  a  war  with  the  Turks  and  with  the 
revolted  Moors.  He  moreover  expected  as  the  price  of 
his  assistance  that  the  interests  and  policy  of  France, 
if  not  her  independence,  should  be  subordinated  to 
Spanish  ambition!  If  war  and  persecution  implied 
submission  to  Spain  all  Frenchmen,  whose  love  of 
their  country  was  not  extinguished  by  fanaticism, 
were  necessarily  disposed  to  peace  and  toleration. 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  who  cared  little  for  the  sup- 
pression of  heresy,  thought  that  too  high  a  price 
might  easily  be  paid  for  an  object  itself  of  doubtful 
advantage.  It  was  true  that  her  favourite  Anjou 
was  for  the  moment  the  Catholic  hero,  his  fresh 
laurels  overshadowed  the  old  glories  of  the  House  of 
Guise,  yet  at  some  future  time  Coligny  and  his  fol- 
lowers, who  seemed  less  formidable  since  their  defeat 
and  the  death  of  Cond^,  might  be  needed  as  a 
counterpoise  to  the  faction  of  Lorraine. 

The  unsuccessful  siege  of  St.  Jean  d'Angely  had 
disgusted  the  King  with  a  war  which  exhausted  his 
resources,  interfered  with  his  amusements  and  min- 
istered only  to  the  aggrandisement  of  a  brother 
whom  he  detested.  The  country  generally  Avas 
weary  of  a  painful  and  indecisive  struggle.  The 
Protestants  were  anxious  to  return  to  their  homes 
and  were  exhausted  by  the  sacrifices  required  to 
maintain  so  unequal  a  contest.  To  none  was  the 
civil  war  more  hateful  than  to  the  Admiral  himself. 


1576]       Education  of  Henry  of  Bourbon,  59 

His  loyalty  to  the  King  as  a  French  noble  and  great 
officer  of  his  Crown,  his  patriotism,  his  inborn  love 
of  order,  his  feelings  as  a  Christian  were  alike  pained 
by  a  war  against  his  King,  in  which  Frenchmen 
destroyed  Frenchmen  to  the  profit  of  their  common 
enemies,  which  ruined  the  social  order  of  the  coun- 
try, demoralised  his  own  adherents  and  was  waged 
on  bath  sides  with  countless  circumstances  of  horror 
and  atrocity. 

In  order  that  the  growing  inclination  of  the  Court 
to  peace  might  be  confirmed,  and  to  secure  more 
favourable  terms,  he  determined  on  a  movement  of 
ably  calculated  audacity.  Accompanied  by  the 
young  Bourbon  Princes  and  a  small  army  of  veteran 
cavalry  he  left  Languedoc  and  moved  rapidly  on 
Paris.  Acceptable  terms  were  at  once  offered  by 
Catherine  and  the  King.  Greater  freedom  of  worship 
than  had  been  allowed  by  previous  edicts  ;  the 
members  of  the  so-called  "  Reformed  "  Church  to  be 
in  every  respect  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the 
Catholics  and  equally  eligible  to  all  civil  and  military 
offices  ;  an  amnesty  for  all  that  had  happened  dur- 
ing the  war.  Finally,  as  a  pledge  of  the  sincerity  of 
the  Court,  four  important  fortresses  were  to  be  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  Huguenot  leaders  for  three  years  : 
Montauban  in  Languedoc,  La  Charity  commanding 
the  Loire,  Cognac  in  Poitou,  and  La  Rochelle  on 
the  ocean.  It  was  in  vain  that  Pius  V.  andPhilip  II. 
protested  with  loud  outcries  against  so  iniquitous  a 
peaice  with  the  enemies  of  God  and  man  ;  the  terms 
were  joyfully  accepted  by  the  Protestants  and  rati- 
fied at  St.  Germains  by  the  King  (August  8,  1570). 


6o  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

So  far  from  being  crushed  the  Protestants  after 
eight  years  of  civil  war  had  obtained  terms  which 
the.y  would  have  welcomed  at  the  outset.  It  is  true 
that  the  same  concessions  would  have  meant  more 
had  they  been  granted  earlier.  The  war  had  shown 
that  the  Huguenots  were  too  strong  a  minority  to 
be  subdued  by  force,  but  it  had  also  made  it  impos- 
sible for  that  minority  to  become  a  majority.  The 
numbers  of  the  sectaries  had  been  greatly  reduced, 
less  by  losses  in  the  field  than  by  massacres  in  the 
towns. 

According  to  some  historians  10,000  had  so  per- 
ished in  one  year  alone  (1568).  These  victims  for 
the  most  part  belonged  to  the  middle  classes,  to  the 
better  sort  of  townspeople.  Many  others  had  been 
compelled  to  fly  the  country.  In  war,  as  was  natural, 
the  nobles  and  soldiers  became  more  and  more  in- 
fluential ;  but  the  great  majority  of  these  had  little 
sympathy  with  the  strict  morality  and  discipline  of 
Calvinism.  Even  at  La  Rochelle,  where  the  ministers 
exercised  an  authority  almost  as  absolute  as  at  Geneva, 
a  spirit  of  lawlessness  had  been  fostered  by  the 
adventures  and  more  than  half  piratical  enterprises 
of  the  citizens. 

The  Italian  admirers  of  the  Machiavellian  state- 
craft of  Catherine  de'  Medici,  and  the  Protestants  to 
whom  she  appeared  a  monster  of  dissimulation,  rep- 
resent the  treaty  of  St.  Germains  as  the  first  of  a 
series  of  measures  devised  to  lure  the  Huguenots  to 
destruction.  Such  was  not  the  opinion  of  the  best 
informed  contemporaries. 

VValsingham,    the    English    ambassador,   assured 


ADMIRAL  COLIQNY. 


1576]       Education  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.         6i 

Queen  Elizabeth  that  the  peace  would  last.  The 
King  had  always  been  averse  to  the  civil  war,  the 
Guises  were  in  disgrace,  the  favour  of  the  Montmo- 
rencys  and  of  the  "  Politicians  "  constantly  growing. 
Petrucci,  the  Florentine  envoy,  wrote  that  the  King 
was  determined  at  all  costs  to  avoid  future  conflicts 
with  the  Huguenots.  Alava,  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor, told  Philip  11.  that  Catherine  was  the  source  of 
all  evil,  although  with  her  usual  oaths  and  tears  she 
had  sworn  that  her  son  no  longer  listened  to  her 
advice. 

The  Queen-Mother,  who  had  been  seeking  an  es- 
tablishment for  her  third  daughter  Margaret,  believed 
that  she  had  reason  to  complain  of  Philip  II.  After 
the  death  of  his  wife  Elizabeth  the  King  in  reply  to 
a  proposal  that  he  should  marry  her  sister  suggest- 
ed that  his  nephew  Sebastian  of  Portugal  would  be 
a  more  suitable  match  for  the  young  lady.  Long 
negotiations  followed.  It  was  believed  that  the 
young  King  of  Portugal,  who  had  romantic  visions 
of  combining  the  saint  and  the  hero,  did  not  wish  to 
marry  at  all  ;  he  certainly  showed  no  eagerness  to 
marry  Margaret  of  Valois.  Catherine  thought  that 
Philip  II.  had  not  seriously  attempted  to  overcome 
his  nephew's  reluctance,  and  in  her  irritation  lent  a 
ready  ear  to  those  who  suggested  that  though  little 
remained  of  the  independent  kingdom  of  Navarre, 
yet  the  head  of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  the  heir  of 
domains  which  extended  from  the  Pyrenees  to  far 
beyond  the  Garonne,  of  the  principalit)'  of  Beam, 
of  the  duchies  of  Vendome,  Beaumont  and  Albret, 
of   the    counties  of    Bigorre,   Armagnac,    Rouergue, 


62  Henry  of  Navarre.  11555- 

Perigord  and  Marie,  of  the  viscounties  of  Marsac 
and  Limoges  and  of  numerous  other  lordships,  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  a  great  and  martial  faction, 
was  no  unequal  match  for  the  third  daughter  even 
of  a  King  of  France. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace  Henry  had  been 
sent  back  to  Beam,  while  his  mother  and  the  Prot- 
estant leaders  remained  at  La  Rochelle ;  refusing  to 
separate  or  to  visit  the  Court  till  the  provisions  of  the 
edict  had  been  fully  carried  out.  Towards  the  end 
of  1570  Marshal  de  Cosse,  a  prominent  member  of 
the  moderate  party  was  sent  to  assure  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  that  the  Government  was  determined  to  ful- 
fil its  engagements,  and  at  the  same  time  to  let  it  be 
known  that  Charles  IX.  would  gladly  see  Henry  of 
Bourbon  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  his  sister.  Early 
in  the  next  year  (1571)  riotous  mobs  robbed  and 
massacred  the  Protestants  of  Orange  and  Rouen. 
The  exemplary  punishment  of  these  excesses,  and 
the  permission  to  hold  a  national  synod  of  the  Re- 
formed churches  at  La  Rochelle,  went  far  to  convince 
the  Huguenots  of  the  good  faith  of  the  Court;  a 
conviction  which  was  strengthened  by  the  eagerness 
with  which  the  King  pressed  on  the  negotiations 
for  the  marriage  of  his  brother  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  the  favourable  reception  given  to  Count  Lewis 
of  Nassau. 

The  King  and  the  Queen-Mother  repeatedly  in- 
vited Coligny  to  Court.  His  cousin  Montmorency 
urged  him  to  grasp  so  favourable  an  opportunity  of 
overthrowing  the  influence  of  the  Guises. 

The  well-known  story  of  Coligny's  reception  at 


15761       Marriage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.        63 

Blois,  how  the  King  embraced  him  again  and  again, 
exclaiming  "  Now  we  have  you  we  shall  not  again 
let  you  go,"  rests  on  no  good  evidence.  Charles 
received  the  Admiral  well,  but  with  no  excess  of 
cordiality,  while  the  Queen-Mother  and  Anjou  had 
taken  to  their  beds  the  day  of  his  arrival :  they  were 
really  ill,  but  the  circumstances  were  so  suspicious, 
that  Coligny  alarmed  by  the  coolness  of  his  recep- 
tion was  on  the  point  of  leaving  Blois.  Soon,  how- 
ever, he  received  abundant  proof  of  royal  favour  and 
affection.  His  advice  constantly  prevailed  in  the 
King's  council,  where  his  supporters  now  formed  the 
majority.  The  royal  council  was  a  large  body. 
Some  members  were  summoned  by  letters  patent, 
while  Princes  of  the  Blood,  dukes  and  peers,  the 
great  of^cers  of  the  Crown  and  knights  of  the  King's 
orders  appear  to  have  had  a  right  to  sit  ex-officio. 
But  of  these  privileged  persons  only  a  small  number 
attended,  or  were  expected  to  attend,  and  a  change 
in  policy  was  often  marked  by  one  set  of  members 
absenting  themselves,  their  place  being  taken  by 
others  who  had  preyiously  stayed  away.  Now  the 
Guises  and  their  most  devoted  adherents  were  no 
longer  seen  in  the  council-chamber — there  was  as  it 
were  a  change  of  ministry  favourable  to  the  Hugue- 
nots and  the  Politicians. 

'Meantime  (winter  of  1571-1572)  the  negotiations 
for  the  marriage  of  Henry  of  Navarre  and  Margaret 
of  Valois  continued.  Coligny,  now  persuaded  that 
the  King  was  sincere,  urged  Queen  Jane  to  bring  her 
son  to  Court,  to  see  the  young  lady  and  to  conduct 
the  treaty  in  person. 


64  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  was  full  of  misgivings.  She 
trembled  for  her  son's  religion,  for  his  morals  ;  she 
could  not  trust  the  Florentine  and  the  King  whose 
bible  was  Machiavelli.  Her  ministers  by  their  contra- 
dictory advice  distracted  her  still  further  ;  but  finally, 
leaving  the  Prince  at  Pau,  she  accepted  the  King's 
invitation.^  The  Court  was  at  Blois,  and  there  also 
was  a  papal  legate  who  had  been  sent  to  protest 
against  so  impious  a  marriage  and  to  offer  once  more 
the  hand  of  the  King  of  Portugal  or  of  an  Austrian 
Prince  to  Madame  Marguerite.  But  the  victory  of 
Lepanto  (October  7,  1571)  had  only  increased  the 
King's  jealousy  and  dislike  of  Spain.  All  his 
thoughts,  he  wrote  to  his  ambassador  at  Constanti- 
nople, were  directed  to  the  one  object  of  humbling 
the  power  of  Philip  II.;  he  was  determined  to  main- 
tain peace  in  his  kingdom  and  to  marry  his  sister  to 
the  Prince  of  Beam  ;  in  no  other  way  could  he  avenge 
himself  on  his  enemies.  The  legate  departed,  in 
dignantly  refusing  the  customary  gift  of  plate. 
I  Charles  IX.  received  his  "  best  beloved  aunt  "  with 
effusive  affection.  The  first  interview  with  Catherine 
was  satisfactory  and  the  Queen  of  Navarre  a$  she 
left  the  room  said  joyfully  "  the  marriage  is  settled.' 
But  the  negotiations  did  not  proceed  so  smoothly 
as  their  beginning  promised.}  Queen  Jane  dreaded 
the  effect  on  her  son  of  the  corruption  she  saw 
around  her,  she  had  believed  it  to  be  great,  but  she 
found  it  to  be  greater  than  she  could  have  con- 
ceived. If  he  were  there,  she  said,  nothing  short  of 
the  signal  grace  of  God  could  save  him. 
I    With  prophetic   eagerness  she  begs  him  to   be  on 


1576]       Marriage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.        65 

his  guard  against  the  attempts  that  will  be  made  to 
debauch  him  in  his  life  and  his  religion\  "  It  is  their 
object ;  they  do  not  affect  to  conceal  it."  They  wish, 
she  said  to  Walsingham,  to  keep  the  Prince  at  Court 
to  turn  him  into  an  atheist.  If  this  happened,  what 
greater  calamity  could  befall  him  or  the  Cause  ? 

,  Catherine  accepted  the  marriage  because  she 
trusted  to  keep  her  future  son-in-law  at  Court.  She 
hoped  that  her  band  of  lively  maids  of  honour,  her 
masques  and  ballets,  would  prove  more  attractive 
than  the  rough  Calvinist  soldiers,  the  tedious  theo- 
logians, the  prayers  and  improving  discourses  at 
Nerac  and  Pau.  If  Henry  were  converted,  the 
Protestants  lost  the  support  of  the  first  Prince  of  the 
Blood,  and  of  the  most  powerful  vassal  of  the  French 
Crown;  if  he  remained  a  Huguenot,  his  rank  secured 
to  him  the  first  place  among  the  sectaries  and  he 
might  be  the  means  of  perplexing  their  councils  and 
embarrassing  the  Admiral.  Either  alternative  filled 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  with  apprehension.  "  Pray,  " 
she  writes  to  her  son,  "  that  this  marriage  may  not  be 
made  in  God's  anger  for  our  punishment."  Her 
letters  are  full  of  nervous  irritation ;  she  finds  it 
impossible  to  speak  to  the  King  or  his  sister ;  she 
only  sees  their  mother,  who  treats  her  with  insolent 
duplicity.  "  She  behaves  in  such  wise,  laughing  in 
my  face,  that  you  may  say  my  patience  surpasses 
Griselda's ;  though  I  burst,  I  am  determined  not  to 
lose  my  temper.  I  cannot  say  I  lack  advice ;  ever)' 
one  has  advice  to  give  me  and  all  different.  It  is  a 
marvel  I  can  endure  the  annoyances  I  suffer.  I  am 
dared,  insulted  and  worried.     They  even  make  holes 


66  Henry  of  Navarre.         '        [1555- 

in  the  walls  of  my  room  to  spy  upon  me."  The 
poor  woman,  naturally  self-willed  and  irritable,  was 
all  the  while  suffering  from  the  disease  which  ended 
her  life  a  few  months  later.  No  wonder  that  the 
Florentine  envoy  thought  that  her  temper  was 
uneven  and  that  she  was  full  of  whims  and  fancies. 

In  her  more  hopeful  mood  she  describes  Margaret 
as  good-looking  though  somewhat  stout  and  too 
tightly  laced,  and  so  much  painted  that  it  was  dif- 
ficult to  see  what  her  face  really  was,  sensible  and 
pleasant-mannered  and  with  great  influence  over  her 
mother  and  brothers.  At  the  same  time  she  gives 
Henry  some  hints  about  his  behaviour  as  a  suitor. 
"  Do  not  be  afraid  of  speaking  out,  for  remember 
that  the  impression  you  make  at  your  first  coming 
will  determine  the  esteem  in  which  you  will  be  held. 
Wear  your  hair  more  raised,  not  in  the  style  of 
Nerac,  but  with  large  locks ;  I  should  recommend 
the  last  fashion  as  the  one  I  prefer." 

When  more  despondent,  she  remembers  that  the 
young  Princess  has  been  educated  in  the  most  cor- 
rupt and  abominable  society,  where  the  women  woo 
the  men.  She  certainly  was  clever,  but  that  was 
only  another  cause  for  anxiety ;  if  she  remained 
Catholic  her  prudence  and  judgment  were  but  addi- 
tional dangers.  Was  Henry  wiser  or  more  expe- 
rienced than  Solomon,  who  was  misled  by  his 
Egyptian  wife  ? 

We  must  allow  that  Jane  showed  some  insight 
into  the  character  of  her  future  daughter-in-law, 
though  it  is  probable  that  the  Princess  Margaret, 
whom  she  saw  shrinking  behind  her  mother,  was  not 


1576]      Marriage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.        67 

more  like  the  Queen  of  Navarre  of  later  years,  in 
character,  than  the  graceful  and  lively  bright-haired 
girl,  with  eyes  only  too  expressive,  was  like  the 
painted  and  beruddled  woman  whose  exuberant  bulk 
was  made  disgusting  and  ridiculous  by  vast  farthin- 
gales, hung  round  with  pockets  containing,  it  was 
reported,  the  embalmed  hearts  of  dead  lovers,  by 
tightly  laced  but  too  scanty  bodices  stiffened  with 
steel,  and  large  frizzed  wigs  shorn  from  the  heads  of 
her  flock  of  flaxen-haired  footmen. 

Margaret  of  Valois  was  a  clever,  even  a  talented 
woman.  Though  her  letters  would  not,  as  Brantome 
pretends,  have  excited  the  envious  despair  of  Cicero, 
they  are  as  free  from  the  determination  to  have  a 
style,  the  affectation  which  disfigures  so  much  of  the 
prose  of  the  i6th  century,  as  the  letters  of  Henry  IV. 
himself,  and  they  show  a  more  cultivated  literary 
sense.  Even  higher  praise  might  be  given  to  the 
"  memoirs,"  which  she  wrote  with  taste  and  tact  to 
prove  herself  the  victim  of  circumstances  and  of  the 
cruel  malignity  of  her  brother  Henry  HI.  Henry  IV. 
could  never  read  to  the  end  of  a  serious  book, 
Margaret  became  so  absorbed  in  what  she  read,  that, 
fond  as  she  was  of  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  she 
would  forget  to  eat  and  drink.  In  practical  matters 
she  had  clear  insight  and  could  give  sound  advice, 
nor  was  she  without  some  good  qualities  of  the 
heart  as  well  as  of  the  head.  She  was  a  constant 
friend,  though  a  fickle  mistress,  kind-hearted  and 
charitable ;  and  her  good-nature  was  of  a  better 
quality  than  that  of  her  mother  or  her  husband, 
since    it   proceeded    neither   from    insensibility   nor 


68  Henry  of  Navarre,  [i555~ 

indifference.  Her  gallantry  was  scandalous  in  an 
age  of  incredible  licence.  She  indulged  her  love  of 
eating  and  drinking  till  her  size  became  so  enormous 
that  she  could  scarcely  squeeze  through  an  ordinary 
doorway.  Her  taste  for  music  and  painting,  her 
extensive  use  of  perfumes  seem  to  show  that  all  her 
senses  imperiously  demanded  the  satisfaction  which 
they  largely  received. 

A  disposition  not  averse  to  vice  had  received  a 
detestable  education,  and  she  disliked  the  marriage 
imposed  upon  her  ;  it  is  not  therefore  surprising  that 
a  union  which  proved  both  loveless  and  childless  was 
a  curse  to  bride  and  bridegroom.  The  life  and 
character  of  Henry  of  Navarre  might  have  been 
different  had  he,  before  his  moral  sense  was  blunted 
by  vice,  been  brought  under  the  influence  of  a  woman 
he  both  loved  and  respected.  His  subsequent  rela- 
tions with  his  mistresses  showed  that  his  affections, 
if  not  his  senses,  were  capable  of  constancy. 

\The  marriage  contract  was  signed  on  April  ii, 
1572.  Charles  IX.  insisted  that  the  wedding  should 
take  place  in  Paris,  in  order  that  he  might  exhibit  to 
the  world  in  the  chief  city  of  his  kingdom  this  proof 
and  pledge  of  his  determined  love  of  civil  peace.) 

The  ceremony  itself  had  been  one  of  the  questions 
most  debated.  Jane  would  not  allow  her  son  to 
countenance  by  his  presence  the  idolatry  of  the  Mass. 
It  was  finally  arranged  that  Henry's  uncle  the 
Cardinal  of  Bourbon  should  give  the  nuptial  bene- 
diction at  the  door  of  the  Cathedral  and  then  lead 
the  pair  to  the  high  altar,  but  that  as  soon  as  the 
celebration  of  Mass  began,  the  Prince  of  Beam  should. 


1576]       Marriage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.         69 

say  to  one  of  the  King's  brothers,  "  My  lord,  I  beg 
you  to  attend  Mass  for  me,"  and  should  then,  without 
leaving  the  church,  retire  into  one  of  the  side 
chapels. 

Charles  IX.  affected  to  make  light  of  the  Pope's 
refusal  to  grant  a  dispensation.  If  the  old  gentle- 
man persisted,  he  would  take  Margot  by  the  hand 
and  marry  her  to  his  cousin  in  the  Protestant  meet- 
ing-house. 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  did  not  live  to  see  the 
marriage.  She  had  been  unwell  when  she  came  to 
Blois  ;  perplexities,  vexations  of  every  kind  had  taken 
away  sleep  and  appetite.  All  the  symptoms  of  her 
illness  appear  to  have  been  natural,^  but  her  death 
was  generally  attributed  to  the  arts  of  Catherine  de' 
Medici  and  her  Florentine  perfumer. 
1^  Henry  of  Navarre  was  in  Poitou  on  his  way  from 
Beam  when  the  news  of  his  mother's  death  reached 
him.  He  continued  his  journey  and  entered  the  city 
in  the  first  week  of  August,  accompanied  by  his 
cousin  Conde  and  eight  hundred  gentlemen  dressed 
in  mourning. 

■  The  marriage  was  celebrated  on  August  18,  1572. 
Margaret,  accompanied  by  her  mother  and  brothers, 
by  the  great  ofificers  of  the  Crown  and  the  principal 
members  of  the  Court,  met  the  young  Prince  of 
Navarre,  who  was  attended  by  his  cousins  the 
Prince  of  Conde  and  the  Count  of  Soissons,  by  the 
Admiral,  the  Count  of  La  Rochefoucauld  and  other 
Huguenot  nobles,  upon  a  great  stage  covered  with 
cloth  of  gold,  erected  before  the  portal  of  Notre 
Dame.     The  bride,  glittering  with  the  Crown  jewels, 


70  He7iry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

was  adorned  as  a  queen,  with  crown  and  ermine,  the 
train,  four  yards  long,  of  her  blue  mantle  carried  by- 
three  princesses.  The  bridegroom  and  his  attend- 
ants had  laid  aside  their  mourning  and  were  dressed 
in  all  the  gay  magnificence  which  the  fashion  of  the 
time  allowed. 

Henry  and  his  Huguenots  walked  in  the  nave  of 
the  Cathedral,  while  the  bride  heard  Mass  in  the 
quire.  The  Admiral  noticed  hung  round  the  walls 
the  standards  he  had  lost  at  Montcoutour ;  soon,  he 
exclaimed,  they  should  be  replaced  by  more  glorious 
trophies  won  from  the  common  enemy. 

The  Duke  of  Anjou  organised  the  feasts  in 
honour  of  his  sister's  wedding,  questionable  and  ill- 
omened  revels,  in  which  the  King,  his  brothers,  the 
Bourbon  princes  and  the  young  nobles  of  both  par- 
ties joined,  while  the  older  Protestants,  witnessed 
these  scenes  of  sinister  and  ill-timed  debauchery  with 
invincible  repugnance.  "As  before  a  storm,"  says  a 
contemporary,"  the  ocean  is  seen  to  heave  and  mutter, 
so  men's  minds  appeared  to  be  moved  by  a  prophetic 
horror  and  foreboding  of  the  evils  so  soon  to  come." 
The  air  was  heavy  with  a  feeling  of  disquiet,  alarm- 
ing reports  spread  on  every  side,  and  the  pulpits  of 
Paris  re-echoed  with  exhortations  to  intolerance  and 
bloodshed. 

More  serious  questions  than  the  marriage  of  the 
Princess  Margaret  had  divided  the  councils  of  the 
French  King  during  the  past  year,  questions  which 
involved  the  whole  future  policy  of  France  and  the 
fate  of  the  Huguenots. 


1576]      Marriage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.        71 

At  no  period  has  the  connection  between  the 
domestic  and  foreign  poHcy  of  the  states  of  western 
Europe  been  closer  than  during  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. The  Protestants  in  England,  in  France,  in 
the  Low  Countries,  in  northern  Germany,  were  con- 
scious that  their  interests  were  the  same. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  we 
find  a  European  league  formed  to  check  the  pre- 
ponderance of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  which,  like 
the  power  of  Philip  II.  a  century  and  a  half  earlier, 
appeared  dangerous  to  the  independence  of  other 
nations.  But  resistance  to  Spain  in  the  name  of  re- 
ligious and  political  liberty  meant  something  very 
different  from  resistance  to  France  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  balance  of  power.  Spain  was  at  once  a 
domestic  and  a  foreign  enemy  to  the  Englishmen 
who  thought  like  Cecil  and  Walsingham,  to  the 
French  Huguenots,  to  the  patriots  of  the  Nether- 
lands ;  and  they  had  more  in  common  with  her 
enemies,  though  foreigners,  than  with  countrymen, 
who  were  her  friends.  A  check  to  the  policy  of 
Philip  II.  a  defeat  of  his  partisans  in  one  country, 
reacted  upon  the  balance  of  parties  elsewhere,  gave 
confidence  to  his  opponents,  and  diminished  the 
authority  of  his  allies.  Hence  to  understand  the 
course  of  French  politics  it  is  often  necessary  to 
bear  in  mind  contemporary  events  in  England  and 
in  the  Netherlands. 

The  destinies  of  the  three  countries  were  never 
more  closely  interwoven  than  during  the  time  which 
elapsed  between  the  Peace  of  St.  Germains  and  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  ;  indeed,  that  trcmen- 


72  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

dous  catastrophe  itself  may  be  said  to  have  been 
occasioned  as  much  by  the  vacillation  of  Elizabeth 
of  England  and  by  the  course  of  events  in  the 
Netherlands,  as  by  the  jealous  and  unscrupulous 
ambition  of  the  Queen-Mother,  the  party  hatred 
and  private  vengeance  of  the  Guises  and  the  fanati- 
cism of  the  Catholic  mob. 

The  all-important  question  for  the  Low  Countries, 
for  France,  and  for  Europe  was:  could  Charles  IX. 
be  induced  to  take  part  openly  in  the  struggle 
against  Spain  ?  This  was  the  stake  against  which 
Coligny  was  willing  to  set  his  life.  With  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Politicians,  of  soldiers  who  preferred 
the  honour  to  be  gained  in  fighting  against  Spain  to 
the  questionable  triumphs  of  civil  war,  the  Admiral 
hoped  to  carry  through  his  policy, — if  possible  with 
the  good  will  of  the  Queen-Mother,  but  if  that 
might  not  be,  then,  in  spite  of  her  opposition. 

Ii_^s_  mainly  ori_  the  English  rnarriagg.-^at 
Coligny  reire3""as~the  means  of  winning  the  supp^ort 
of  CatTTerme!  Had  Elizabeth  been  able  to  make  up 
her  mind,  had  the  marriage  been  concluded,  a  war 
with  Spain  would  have  followed,  and  it  is  probable 
that  "  Walsingham  and  Burghley  were  right  in  be- 
lieving that  the  course  of  European  history  would 
have  been  different  and  the  power  of  the  Papacy 
would  have  been  rolled  back  in  one  broad  wave 
across  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees." 

But  Elizabeth  could  not  make  up  her  mind,  and 
the  success  of  Coligny  in  establishing  his  influence 
over  the  King  became  the  chief  source  of  his  dan- 
ger.    It  seemed  as  if  peaceably  and  by  moral  means 


1576]       Marriage  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.  73 

he  was  about  to  succeed  in  doing  what  physical 
force  had  failed  to  effect  at  Meaux,  when  the 
Huguenots  had  attempted  to  seize  the  young  King 
and  to  remove  him  from  under  the  control  of  his 
mother.  Henceforth  therefore  her  opposition  to 
and  hatred  of  the  Admiral  became  desperate  and 
irreconcilable.  Her  first  object  now  was  by  fair 
means  or  foul  to  remove  an  influence  fatal  to  her  own. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1 572,  when  Holland  and  Zea- 
land were  in  arms  and  the  Huguenots  pouring  over 
the  frontiers  of  Hainault  to  the  assistance  of  the 
rebels,  peace  or  war  with  Spain  rfteant  the  predomi- 
nance of  Catherine  or  of  Coligny. 

The  King's  hatred  of  Spain,  his  jealousy  and  sus- 
picion of  Anjou,  the  great  personal  influence  of 
Coligny,  the  favour  of  Teligny,  the  Admiral's  son- 
in-law,  of  La  Rochefoucauld  and  other  young  Hugue- 
not nobles,  the  obvious  advantage  of  strengthening 
the  royal  authority  at  home  by  a  successful  foreign 
war  were  thrown  into  the  scale  against  the  authority, 
confirmed  by  long  habit,  of  the  Queen-Mother,  the 
advice  of  councillors  who  from  deference  to  her, 
from  jealousy  of  her  opponents,  or  from  sincere  con- 
viction pointed  out  the  danger  of  entering  upon  so 
formidable  a  struggle  without  any  formal  offensive 
and  defensive  alliance  with  England,  with  an  empty 
treasury  and  a  country  exhausted  by  war  and  divided 
by  faction.  For  if  the  war  meant,  as  it  did,  the  pre- 
dominance of  the  Protestants  and  their  friends, 
those  zealous  Catholics,  and  they  were  many,  who 
preferred  their  religion  to  their  country  would  be 
the  best  allies  of  Philip  H. 


74  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

Had  the  Nassaus  and  their  Huguenot  confeder- 
ates been  more  successful  in  the  Low  Countries  it  is 
possible  that  Coligny  might  have  prevailed. 

More  than  once  it  was  generally  believed  that  the 
King  had  determined  to  declare  war.  But  at  two 
meetings  of  the  council  held  on  August  6th  and  9th, 
attended  by  all  the  officers  and  ministers  of  the 
crown,  a  large  majority  pronounced  against  a  breach 
with  Spain.  Charles  IX.  yielded  to  their  representa- 
tions and  to  the  urgent  and  private  expostulations 
of  his  mother,  who,  says  Tavannes  in  the  memoirs 
of  his  father,  one  of  her  most  intimate  and  trusted 
advisers,  threw  herself  at  the  King's  feet  and  burst- 
ing into  tears  begged  him  to  allow  her  to  leave  the 
Court,  since  after  all  her  labours  on  his  behalf  he  no 
longer  had  any  confidence  in  her,  and  abandoned 
himself  to  the  councils  of  his  enemies.  But  even 
yet  her  victory  was  not  assured.  On  August  loth 
Walsingham  wrote  to  Burghley  that  "  though  the 
Admiral  cannot  obtain  what  were  requisite  and 
necessary  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause,  yet  doth 
he  obtain  somewhat  in  conference  with  the  King." 
Charles  IX.  in  a  letter  of  the  same  date  to  his  am- 
bassador in  England  told  him  that  he  must  exert 
himself  to  induce  Elizabeth  to  help  Orange.  It  was 
evident  that  the  frank  acceptance  by  the  Queen  of 
England  of  the  French  alliance  or  any  decisive  re- 
verse to  the  Spanish  arms  might  again  turn  the  scale 
in  favour  of  war  and  of  Coligny. 

"  The  Queen,"  says  Tavannes,  "  considering  that 
not  only  the  fortunes  of  France,  but,  what  touched 
her  far   more   nearly,  her   power   and   the  safety  of 


1576]  SL  Bartholomew.  75 

Anjou  were  at  stake,  resolved  with  M.  d'Anjou  and 
two  other  advisers  to  compass  the  death  of  the  Ad- 
miral, believing  that  the  whole  Huguenot  party  was 
centred  in  him  ;  and  trusting  to  remedy  all— z.  ^., 
prevent  the  outbreak  of  civil  war — by  the  marriage 
of  her  daughter  to  the  King  of  Navarre  and  by 
throwing  the  blame  of  the  murder  on  the  Guises,  to 
the  assassination  of  whose  father  the  Admiral  had 
been  privy." 

By  making  the  Guises  responsible  for  her  crime, 
Catherine  trusted,  it  is  said,  to  obtain  an  even  more 
satisfactory  result.  She  expected  that  the  Hugue- 
nots would  rush  to  arms  and  attack  the  Guises,  that 
the  populace  of  Paris  would  seek  to  protect  their 
favourites,  the  leaders  of  the  faction  of  Lorraine, 
and  that  the  Montmorencys  and  their  friends  would 
support  the  Huguenots ;  whichever  side  prevailed 
would  be  exhausted  by  a  bloody  and  obstinate  con- 
flict and  might  be  fallen  upon  and  annihilated  by  the 
King's  troop's,  as  disturbers  of  the  public  peace ! 

All  the  great  nobles  of  France,  gathered  together 
in  Paris  to  celebrate  the  wedding  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  would  thus  be  destroyed  and  the  Queen 
and  the  Duke  of  Anjou  left  without  rivals  in  the 
King's  council.  Moreover,  this  great  end  would  be 
attained  without  incurring  the  odium  of  the  crime; 
it  would  appear  to  have  been  the  unavoidable  result 
of  the  violence  of  faction,  and  would  not  commit 
the  Crown  to  irreconcilable  hostility  with  either  the 
Catholic  or  Protestant  party. 

After  the  wedding  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  Cath 
erine  and  Anjou  sent  for  the  young  Duke  of  Guisw 


^6  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1556- 

and  his  mother  to  concert  measures  for  the  death  of 
the  man  who,  as  they  pretended  and  perhaps  be- 
Heved,  had  encouraged  the  assassin  of  Duke  Francis, 
A  bravo  formerly  in  the  service  of  Anjou  and  at 
that  time  of  the  Guises  was  stationed  behind  the 
bhnds  of  a  house  which  the  Admiral  used  to  pass  on 
his  way  to  the  Louvre.  Three  days  he  lay  in  wait. 
But  when  the  opportunity  came,  although  his  piece 
was  loaded  with  three  balls  he  only  wounded  his 
victim.  Coligny  at  once  sent  to  inform  the  King  of 
what  had  happened  ;  his  messenger  found  Charles 
IX.  playing  tennis  with  Henry  of  Guise  and 
Teligny  ;  turning  pale  and  dashing  his  racquet  to 
the  ground  he  exclaimed  with  many  oaths,  "  Are  we 
never  to  have  peace  ?  "  and  went  to  his  room  "  with 
sad  and  downcast  countenance." 

Soon  the  King  of  Navarre,  the  Prince  of  Cond^ 
and  a  crowd  of  nobles  demanded  an  audience  and 
the  King's  permission  to  leave  a  town  where  their 
lives  were  in  danger.  Full,  apparently,  of  grief  and 
anger  Charles  declared  he  would  take  such  vengeance 
as  should  never  be  forgotten  on  those  who  were 
guilty  of  the  outrage.  Nor  could  his  sincerity  be 
doubted  when  he  ordered  the  gates  of  the  city  to 
be  shut  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  would-be  assas- 
sins, intrusted  the  inquiry  into  the  crime  to  an 
impartially  chosen  commission,  forbade  the  towns- 
people to  arm  or  to  close  their  shops,  sent  a  detach- 
ment of  his  guards  to  protect  the  Admiral,  and 
offered  lodgings  to  the  Huguenot  gentlemen  near 
Coligny's  house,  or  in  the  Louvre. 

After   dinner   Charles   came   accompanied    by  his 


t576]  SL  Ba7^tholomew.  yy 

Court,  his  mother  and  his  brothers  to  visit  the  Ad- 
miral, whom  he  overwhelmed  with  demonstrations 
of  affection.  "  My  father,"  he  said,  "  the  pain  of 
the  wound  is  yours,  but  the  insult  and  the  wrong  are 
mine,"  and  again  he  swore  with  his  usual  oaths  that 
the  guilty  should  dearly  rue  their  deed.  The  Queen 
and  Anjou  were  filled  with  apprehension  and  as  soon 
as  they  had  reached  the  Tuileries  sent  Gondi,  Count 
of  Retz,  formerly  the  King's  tutor,  and  who  had  still 
much  influence  over  him,  to  pacify  him. 

On  the  next  morning  the  Protestant  nobles  delib- 
erated whether  they  should  leave  Paris,  taking  with 
them  the  Admiral,  wounded  as  he  was;  but  Coligny 
and  the  majority  were  persuaded  of  the  King's  good 
faith  ;  to  fly  would  be  to  abandon  him  to  the  Guises 
and  to  make  civil  war  inevitable.  They  determined 
to  stay,  and  Catherine  heard  that  they  intended  on 
the  next  day  to  present  themselves  at  Court  in  a 
body,  and  to  accuse  the  Duke  of  Guise  of  attempt- 
ing the  life  of  Coligny.  It  was  probable  that  Henry 
of  Guise  would  not  care  to  deny  his  complicity  in  an 
act  which  established  his  popularity  among  the  mob 
and  the  friars,  but  would  excuse  himself  by  saying 
that  he  had  acted  by  the  authority  of  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  the  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom.  Thus 
the  vengeance  of  the  Protestants  and  the  anger  of 
the  King  would  fall  on  the  Queen-Mother  and  her 
favourite  son.  Catherine  felt  that  she  must  act,  and 
act  at  once.  Accompanied  by  Anjou,  by  Gondi,  by 
Gonzaga,  Duke  of  Nevers,  Birago,  a  Milanese,  the 
unworthy  successor  of  the  Chancellor  I'Hopital,  and 
Marshal  Tavannes,  she  requested  an  audience  of  the 


yS  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555 

King.  There  are  three  fairly  authentic  accounts, 
which  agree  in  the  main,  of  what  passed  at  this  inter- 
view ;  nor  is  it  hard  to  understand  how  the  half  mad 
King,  whose  nature  had  been  prepared  for  crime, 
whose  nobler  qualities  had  been  perverted  or  stunted, 
was  harassed  and  perplexed  and  driven  into  the  toils 
by  the  infernal  art  of  his  advisers.  No  argument 
was  neglected  which  might  overcome  his  reluctance, 
not  so*much  to  break  his  faith,  as  to  sacrifice  men 
for  whom  he  seems  to  have  felt  sincere  respect  or 
liking. ' 

■The  dangerous  ambition  of  the  Huguenots,  their 
turbulence  and  previous  attacks  on  the  royal  author- 
ity, the  discontent  of  the  Catholics  at  the  favours 
shown  to  the  heretics,  and  their  determination  if  the 
King  did  not  listen  to  their  complaints  to  form  a 
Holy  League  under  a  captain-general  of  their  own,  and 
save  the  realm  in  his  spite, — -all  this  and  much  more 
was  urged.  For  an  hour  and  a  half  Charles  resisted, 
but  stung  at  length  by  the  imputation  that  he  was 
too  timid  to  act,  he  leapt  up  in  a  frenzy  of  passion, 
cursing  everybody  and  everything  :  "  By  God's  death 
since  you  insist  that  the  Admiral  must  be  killed  I 
consent;  but  with  him  every  Huguenot  in  France 
must  perish,  that  not  one  may  remain  to  reproach 
me  with  his  death  ;  and  what  you  do,  see  that  it 
be  done  quickly."  So  speaking,  he  rushed  like  a 
madman  from  the  room'. 

When  the  King's  assent  had  been  obtained,  the 
arrangements  for  the  massacre  were  soon  concerted 
between  the  Quean-Mother,  Anjou,  the  Guises  and 
the  leaders  of  the  Parisian  mob.     The  signal  was  to 


MEDAL  OF  CHARLES  IX.  STRUCK  TO  COMMEMORATE  THE  MASSACRE  OF 
ST.   BARTHOLOMEW. 


MEDAL  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  STRUCK  TO  COMMEMORATE  THE  MASSAOfit  OF 
ST.  BARTHOLOMEW. 


1576]  Si.  Bartholomew.  79 

be  given  that  very  night  by  the  bells  of  the  church 
nearest  to  the  Louvre. 

[  As  the  fatal  moment  approached  Charles  IX. 
attempted  to  revoke  the  permission  extorted  from 
him.  Even  Catherine  felt  some  misgivings,  but  it 
was  too  late.  "  We  went,"  so  the  Duke  of  Anjou 
during  a  sleepless  night  told  his  physician,  "  we  went 
to  a  room  in  the  gate  tower  of  the  Louvre,  to  watch 
from  a  window  which  looked  into  the  yard  the 
beginning  of  the  execution.  We  had  not  been  there 
long,  and  we  were  considering  the  consequences  of  so 
great  an  enterprise,  when  we  suddenly  heard  the 
report  of  a  pistol.  I  do  not  know  where  the  shot 
was  fired,  nor  whether  it  hurt  any  one,  but  the  mere 
sound  struck  us  with  strange  terrors  and  apprehen- 
sions of  the  great  disorders  that  were  then  about  to 
be  committed.  We  suddenly  and  hastily  sent  a 
gentleman  to  M.  de  Guise,  bidding  him  retire  to  his 
house,  and  to  beware  of  attempting  anything  against 
the  Admiral.  But  our  messenger  came  back,  and 
said  that  it  was  too  late,  and  that  the  Admiral  was 
already  dead." 

Guise  himself  and  the  Duke  of  Angoul^me,  a 
bastard  of  Henry  IL,  superintended  the  murder  of 
Coligny.  The  guards  who  were  sent  by  the  King 
for  his  protection  were  the  first  to  fire  upon  his 
retainers.  Coligny,  hearing  the  uproar,  knew  that 
his  last  hour  was  come.  He  told  the  great  surgeon 
Ambrose  Pare,  himself  a  Protestant,  and  others 
who  had  been  watching  in  his  room  to  escape  by  the 
roof ;  only  one  of  his  attendants,  a  German,  refused 
to  leave  him.     The  murderers  burst  open  the  door 


8o  He7iry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

but  they  were  so  abashed  by  the  fearless  dignity  of 
their  victim,  that  they  stood  hesitating  on  the  thres- 
hold. One  only,  a  foreigner,  a  Bohemian  who  was 
half  drunk  stepped  forward  :  "  Are  you  the  Ad- 
miral ?  "  and  with  an  oath  felled  him  to  the  ground. 
The  others  hacked  him  with  their  swords.  "  Have 
you  finished?"  shouted  the  Duke  of  Guise  from  the 
courtyard  ;  ''  throw  him  out  of  the  window  for  us  to 
see  with  our  own  eyes."  Even  yet  there  seemed  to 
be  some  life  in  the  body,  for  a  moment  it  clung  to 
the  window  bars.  The  features  were  crushed  and 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished.  Angouleme  wiped 
away  the  blood  from  the  face,  and  recognising  the 
Admiral,  kicked  it  as  he  turned  away.  When  Guise 
in  his  turn  fell  by  the  assassin's  sword  and  his 
corpse  was  spurned  by  the  man  he  had  despised  and 
dared,  the  accomplice  of  his  present  crime,  it  was 
remembered  that  he  also  had  struck  the  dead  hero 
with  his  foot. 

So  perished  Admiral  Coligny,  one  of  the  noblest 
characters  and  of  the  ablest  soldiers  and  statesmen 
produced  by  the  French  Reformation. 
\  Aristotle  describes  the  man  of  j)erfect  character  as 
slow  and  deliberate  of  speech,  considerate  to  his 
inferiors,  but  unaccommodating  to  his  equals  and 
haughty  to  his  superiors,  little  disposed  to  frequent 
places  where  he  has  to  give  way  to  others,  more  ready 
to  confer  than  to  receive  obligations,  and  with  a  high 
and  just  conceit  of  his  own  merits.  Devout  Chris- 
tian as  he  was,  the  Admiral  would  have  satisfied  the 
pagan  philosopher's  ideal.)  But  a  virtue  less  proud 
and  austere  would  not  have  given  him  the  influence 


1576] 


St.  Bartholomew.  8i 


which  he  needed  to  control  the  excesses,  the  dis- 
cordant aims  and  councils  of  his  party.  The  vanity 
of  the  Pluguenot  nobles  yielded  to  a  pride  better 
founded  and  more  masterful  than  their  own.  As 
a  general,  he  knew  how  to  efTect  great  results  with 
small  means  and  was  never  more  formidable  than 
when  defeated. 

Coligny  was  a  Puritan  by  conviction  and  tempera- 
ment, but  a  Puritan  of  the  French  Renaissance.  His 
house  of  Chatillon  sur  Loing,  where  the  day  began 
with  prayers,  which  he  himself  conducted,  contained 
choice  collections  of  books  and  works  of  art,  and 
was  as  hospitable  to  scholars  and  artists  as  the 
palace  of  a  Montefeltro  or  a  Medici.  The  interest 
in  literature  and  culture  which  somewhat  redeems 
the  bestial  licence  of  the  French  Court  in  the  i6th 
century  made  Calvinism  itself  more  amiable. 

"  There,"  said  the  Elector  Palatine,  showing  the 
portrait  of  his  victim  to  Henry  of  Anjou,  "  there  is 
the  most  virtuous  man  and  the  wisest,  and  the 
greatest  captain  of  Europe,  whose  children  I  have 
invited  to  live  with  me,  lest  they  should  be  torn  in 
pieces  like  their  father  by  those  French  hounds." 

But  there  is  perhaps  no  greater  tribute  to  the 
Admiral's  integrity  than  the  praise  of  Brantome, 
who  belonged  to  the  faction  of  the  Guises,  yet  main- 
tains that  no  selfish  motive  led  Coligny  to  draw  his 
sword,  and  that  had  he  been  less  patriotic  and  less 
loyal  he  would  not  have  perished  a  victim  to  his 
hatred  of  civil  strife. 

The  death  of  the  Admiral  was  the  signal  for  the 
slaughter  of   the    Huguenot    gentlemen    who    were 


82  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555 

lodged  in  the  neighbourhood.  It  was  in  the  Louvre 
itself  that  the  massacre  was  most  odious,  if  not  most 
cruel.  The  Protestant  nobles  who  were  sleeping  in 
the  palace  had  been  expressly  invited  by  the  King, 
and  were  protected  by  the  duty  which  he  owed  to 
them  as  his  guests  as  well  as  his  subjects,  by  his 
honour  as  a  prince  and  as  a  gentleman.  One  by  one 
they  were  summoned  and  cut  down  by  the  Swiss 
guards  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  King,  who,  mad 
with  the  excitement  of  his  crime,  himself  urged  on 
the  butchery.  His  victims  as  they  fell  reproached 
him  with  his  broken  faith. 

When  day  dawned  the  great  bell  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  summoned  the  rabble  of  the  city  to  complete 
the  slaughter.  On  the  first  day  the  massacre  was 
chiefly  confined  to  the  Huguenot  nobles  and  their 
followers.  The  municipality  and  the  most  respect- 
able citizens  begged  the  King  to  put  an  end  to  the 
disorders  which  they  said  were  committed  by  the 
princes  and  nobles  of  his  Court,  and  by  the  dregs  of 
the  populace.  Charles  IX.  asked  them  to  assist  in 
quelling  the  riot  which  he  affected  to  deplore.  But 
nothing  was  done,  the  bloodshed  and  horrors  of  the 
second  and  third  days  outdid  the  atrocities  of  the 
first.  Every  evil  passion,  fanaticism,  hate,  envy, 
lust  and  avarice  raged  uncontrolled,  in  a  hideous 
scene  of  anarchy  and  carnage.  Catholic  tradesmen 
murdered  their  Huguenot  competitors,  needy  cour- 
tiers  hounded  on  the  mob  to  slaughter  their  credit- 
ors, men  were  killed  for  their  ofifices,  for  their  houses, 
for  their  wives.  But  most  horrible  perhaps  was  the 
ferocity  of  the  mob,  of  the  women  and  even  of  the 


1576] 


6V.   Bartholomew.  83 


little  children.  A  ferocity,  which  the  dregs  of  Paris 
had  shown  in  the  civil  wars  of  Armagnac  and  Bur- 
gundy and  which  they  were  again  to  display  in  1793. 
Women  were  ripped  up,  babies  spitted  on  pikes  or 
dragged  to  the  river  by  children  scarcely  older  than 
themselves. 

At  the  lowest  computation  2,000  Protestants  per- 
ished in  Paris,  and  these  men  were  the  flower  of  the 
Huguenot  nobility,  the  most  enlightened  and  ener- 
getic of  the  professional  and  mercantile  classes  of 
the  capital.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  boldest  sol- 
diers and  proudest  nobles  in  France  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  slaughtered  like  sheep,  so  completely 
were  these  men,  whom  their  enemies  accused  of 
plotting  to  seize  the  capital  and  the  King's  person, 
taken  by  surprise.  Only  one  man,  and  he  a  lawyer, 
attempted  resistance,  barred  his  doors  and  kept  his 
assailants  at  bay,  till  his  house  was  stormed  by  a 
company  of  the  royal  guards. 

The  Count  of  Montgomery,  the  vidame  of  Char^ 
tres,  with  other  nobles  who  were  lodged  in  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Germain,  had  timely  warning  and  escaped. 

The  Duke  of  Guise,  suspecting  that  an  attempt 
miefht  be  made  to  throw  the  odium  of  what  had 
happened  upon  his  faction,  was  anxious  that  his 
moderation  should  contrast  with  the  mad  frenzy  of 
bloodshed  into  which  the  King  had  fallen.  "  He  is 
not,"  the  English  envoy  wrote  to  Cecil,  "  so  bloody, 
neither  did  he  kill  any  man  himself,  but  saved  divers  ; 
he  spake  openly  that  for  the  Admiral's  death  he  was 
glad,  for  he  knew  him  to  be  his  enemy,  but  for  the 
rest  the  King  had  put  to  death  such  as  might  do 


84  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

him  very  good  service."  Following  the  example  of 
the  Guises,  other  influential  Catholics  saved  some  of 
the  victims  who  took  refuge  in  their  houses.  A  few 
were  even  protected  by  the  favour  of  the  Court ; 
among  these  was  the  famous  potter  Bernard  Palissy, 
who  escaped  in  his  workshop  in  the  garden  of  the 
Tuileries,  to  perish  eighteen  years  later  of  want  and 
ill  usage  in  the  prisons  of  the  League. 

The  horrors  of  Paris  were  repeated  on  a  smaller 
scale,  but  with  not  less  atrocious  circumstances,  at 
Meaux,  Orleans,  Angers,  Troyes,  Bourges,  Lyons, 
Rouen,  Toulouse,  Bordeaux  and  other  places.  Al- 
though not  a  few  of  the  governors  refused  to  obey 
the  orders  of  the  Court  and  the  tranquillity  of  some 
provinces  was  comparatively  undisturbed,  yet  at 
least  20,000  victims  perished. 

The  Queen-Mother  and  her  advisers  had,  it  is 
said,  at  first  intended  that  the  King  of  Navarre  and 
the  Prince  of  Conde  should  share  the  fate  of  the 
other  Huguenots.  But  their  individual  importance 
appeared  too  insignificant,  their  rank  too  exalted. 
It  was  not  worth  while  to  incur  the  odium  of  put- 
ting to  death  the  first  Prince  of  the  Blood,  the  hus- 
band of  the  King's  sister,  in  order  to  guard  against 
any  danger  that  seemed  likely  to  arise  from  this 
"  half-fledged  kinglet,"  who  appeared  less  eager  to 
share  in  the  councils  of  his  party  than  in  the  revels 
and  debaucheries  of  his  royal  brothers. 

Margaret  of  Valois  gives  in  her  memoirs  an  ap- 
parently faithful  account  of  the  events  of  the  fatal 
night  of  St.  Bartholomew,  so  far  as  they  concerned 
herself  and   her  husband.      "  The  Hug-uenots,"  she 


1576] 


Si.   Bartholomew.  85 


says,  "  suspected  me  because  I  was  a  Catholic  ;  the 
Catholics,  because  I  had  married  the  King  of  Na- 
varre. So  that  I  heard  nothing  of  what  was  going 
on  till  the  evening,  when,  as  I  was  sitting  on  a  chest 
in  my  mother's  room  by  the  side  of  my  sister,  the 
Duchess  of  Lorraine,  whom  I  saw  to  be  very  sad, 
the  Queen-Mother  noticed  me  and  told  me  to  go  to 
bed.  As  I  was  curtesying  to  her  my  sister  laid 
hold  of  my  arm  and  burst  into  tears  saying,  '  For 
God's  sake,  sister,  don't  go.'  I  was  greatly  fright- 
ened and  seeing  this  the  Queen,  my  mother,  spoke 
very  sharply  to  my  sister,  and  forbade  her  to  say 
anything  to  me,  adding  that,  please  God,  no  harm 
would  happen  to  me,  but  that,  come  what  might,  go 
I  must,  lest  something  should  be  suspected.  I  did 
not  hear  what  was  said,  but  again  and  very  roughly 
my  mother  told  me  to  go. 

"  As  soon  as  I  was  in  my  room  I  threw  myself  on 
my  knees  and  prayed  God  to  protect  me,  though  I 
knew  not  from  what  or  against  whom. 

"  Meanwhile  the  king,  my  husband,  had  gone  to  bed 
and  sent  word  to  me  to  come  to  him.  I  found  his 
bed  surrounded  by  thirty  or  forty  Huguenots  whom 
I  did  not  yet  know,  for  I  had  only  been  married  a 
few  days.  All  night  long  they  remained  talking  of 
what  had  happened  to  the  Admiral,  and  determining 
as  soon  as  day  broke  to  ask  for  redress  against  M. 
de  Guise;  and  if  it  were  not  granted,  then  to  seek  it 
for  themselves.  As  for  me  the  tears  of  my  sister 
weighed  on  my  mind  and  I  could  not  sleep  for  fear 
of  some  unknown  evil.  At  dawn,  the  King,  my 
husband,    said    he   would    go   and    play  tennis    till 


^^ 


86  Hefiry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

King  Charles  was  awake,  having  made  up  his  mind 
to  ask  him  at  once  to  do  justice.  He  then  left  my 
room,  and  his  gentlemen  with  him.  Seeing  that  it 
was  light,  and  thinking  that  tiie  danger  of  which  my 
sister  had  spoken  was  passed,  and  being  heavy  with 
drowsiness,  I  told  my  nurse  to  lock  the  door,  so  that 
I  might  sleep  undisturbed.  An  hour  later,  when  I 
was  fast  asleep,  some  one  came  beating  with  hands 
and  feet  against  the  door  and  shouting  '  Navarre, 
Navarre  ! '  My  nurse  thinking  that  it  was  my  hus- 
band ran  to  open.  It  was  a  gentleman  wounded  by 
a  sword-thrust  in  the  elbow,  and  his  arm  cut  by  a 
halberd,  who  rushed  into  my  room  pursued  by  four 
archers.  Seeking  safety,  he  threw  himself  on  my 
bed  [no  doubt  a  four-poster  with  curtains  out  of  the 
comparative  privacy  of  which  her  husband  had 
talked  with  his  gentlemen].  Feeling  this  man 
clutching  me,  I  threw  myself  into  the  space  between 
the  bed  and  the  wall,  where,  he  still  grasping  me,  we 
rolled  over,  both  screaming  and  both  equally  fright- 
ened. Fortunately,  the  Captain  of  my  Guards,  M. 
de  Nangay,  came  by,  who  saw  me  in  such  plight, 
that  sorry  as  he  was  he  could  not  help  laughing,  but 
drove  the  archers  out  of  the  room  and  gave  me  the 
life  of  the  poor  gentleman,  who  was  still  clinging  to 
me,  and  whom  I  caused  to  be  tended  and  nursed  in 
my  dressing-room  till  he  was  quite  cured.  While  I 
changed  my  night-dress,  for  he  had  covered  me  with 
his  blood,  M.  de  Nan^ay  told  me  what  had  happened, 
but  assured  me  that  my  husband  was  in  the  King's 
room  and  in  no  danger.  Making  me  throw  on  a 
dressing-gown,  he  then  led   me  to  the  room   of  my 


T576]  S^.  Bartholomew.  87 

sister  Madame  de  Lorraine,  which  I  reached  more 
dead  than  alive;  just  as  I  was  going  into  the  ante- 
room a  gentleman  trying  to  escape  from  the  archers 
who  were  pursuing  him  fell  stabbed  three  paces  from 
me.  I  too  fell  half  fainting  into  the  arms  of  M.  de 
Nangay  and  felt  as  if  the  same  blow  had  pierced  us 
both," 

Meantime  the  King  of  Navarre  and  the  Prince  of 
Conde  had  been  summoned  to  the  King's  presence. 
All  that  had  happened,  had,  he  told  them,  been  done 
by  his  oiders.  Henceforward  he  would  tolerate  no 
other  religion  in  his  dominions  than  the  Roman 
Catholic.  They  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  made 
the  leaders  of  his  enemies,  and  their  lives  were  justly 
forfeit.  But,  as  they  were  his  kinsmen  and  connec- 
tions, he  would  pardon  them  on  condition  that  they 
conformed  to  the  church  of  their  ancestors  ;  if  not 
they  must  prepare  to  be  treated  like  their  friends. 

Navarre,  surprised  and  disconcerted  by  the  unex- 
pected catastrophe,  muttered  some  ambiguous  words ; 
Cond6  more  boldly  replied,  that  he  was  accountable 
for  his  religion  to  God  alone.  They  were  then  dis- 
missed with  threats  of  the  Bastille  or  death,  should 
they  be  obstinate. 

After  some  weeks  the  cautious  and  measured  re- 
sistance of  Henry  and  the  bolder  defiance  of  Conde 
alike  yielded  to  their  fears.  The  latter  indeed,  after 
he  had  been  once  dragged  to  Mass,  was  zealous  in 
the  observances  of  his  new  religion  ;  he  was,  laughed 
the  courtiers,  so  busy  crossing  himself  in  season  and 
out,  that  he  had  no  time  to  notice  the  love  passages 
between  his  Princess  and  Anjou. 


88  Henry  of  Navarre.  11555- 

Henry's  life  was  now  safe,  perhaps  it  had  never  been 
seriously  threatened,  but  it  would  not  be  easy  to 
imagine  a  more  difficult  and  dangerous  position  than 
that  in  which  he  now  found  himself.  The  eight 
hundred  gentlemen  who  had  accompanied  him  to 
his  wedding  were  slain  or  fled,  there  was  none  near 
him  to  warn  him  or  advise,  powerless  as  he  appeared 
in  the  hands  of  his  mother-in-law.  Catherine  sug- 
gested to  her  daughter,  if  the  latter  may  be  believed, 
that  a  divorce  might  easily  be  procured,  which  would 
have  deprived  him  of  such  security  as  the  position 
of  the  King's  brother-in-law  conferred.  But  Mar- 
garet declined  to  be  a  party  to  any  such  scheme, 
and,  though  she  had  no  affection  for  her  husband, 
appears  at  this  crisis  of  his  fortunes  to  have  played 
the  part  of  a  loyal  friend,  helping  him  by  her  advice 
to  thread  his  way  through  the  mazes  of  a  Court, 
than  which  none  was  ever  more  disturbed  by  un- 
scrupulous intrigue,  by  mutual  hatred  and  suspicion. 

It  was  indeed  a  strange  stage  on  which  this  beard- 
less youth  of  nineteen,  this  King,  with  more  nose 
than  kingdom,  as  the  courtiers  jested,  was  called  to 
play  his  perilous  part ;  still  reeking  with  the  blood 
of  the  tragedy  just  enacted,  crowded  with  a  motley 
crew  of  cut-throats,  courtesans  and  adventurers, 
elbowing  nobles,  ladies  and  princes,  who  differed 
from  them  little  in  manners,  dress  or  decency  of 
life. 

"  In  that  Court,"  says  an  eye-witness,  "  common 
sin  seemed  too  near  virtue  to  please,  and  he  was  reck- 
oned to  show  little  spirit  who  was  content  to  be  the 
gallant   of  but  one  adulteress."     There    everything, 


1576]  S^.   Bartholomew.  89 

another  contemporary  declares,  was  tolerated,  except 
a  decent  life  and  virtuous  conversation.  There,  too, 
was  "  hate  hard  by  lust,"  and  the  general  profligacy 
was  accompanied  by  a  violence  of  manners  such  as 
we  cannot  easily  realise.  Flown  with  insolence  and 
wine,  the  princes  and  their  minions  ranged  the  streets, 
insulting  the  women,  beating  and  wounding  inoffen- 
sive citizens  and  engaging  in  bloody  and  fatal 
broils  with  their  rivals  in  debauchery. 

Such  was  the  example  set  in  the  highest  places. 
The  Kings  of  France,  Poland  and  Navarre  and  their 
attendants,  after  a  hideous  orgy  which  began  with  a 
banquet  served  by  naked  women,  stormed  and  sacked 
the  house  of  a  gentleman,  who  had  offended  Henry 
of  Anjou  by  refusing  to  marry  his  cast-ofT  mistress. 
Nor  did  this  exploit  attract  attention  as  anything 
out  of  the  common  course. 

Eight  thousand  gentlemen  were  killed  in  duels 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  and  probably  no 
fewer  during  the  previous  twenty  years.  The 
Romans,  a  moralist  complained,  left  the  duel  and  the 
point  of  honour  to  gladiators  and  to  the  dregs  of 
their  slaves.  Now  to  be  the  first  to  break  through 
the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  to  plant  the  standard  on  the 
breach,  to  rally  a  flying  squadron,  is  no  proof  of 
courage — courage  can  only  be  shown  in  a  quarrel 
about  a  dog  or  hawk  or  harlot. 

To  kill  an  enemy  in  fair  combat  was  a  source  of 
legitimate  pride,  but  it  was  scarcely  reckoned  dis- 
honourable to  get  rid  of  him  by  assassination.  Writ- 
ing a  few  years  later,  the  diarist  L'Estoile  remarks, 
that  the  gentry  following  the  example  of  the  great 


90  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

nobles  were  beginning  to  have  recourse  to  assassina-- 
tion  instead  of  to  the  duel.  The  annals  of  one 
princely  house  will  furnish  us  with  sufficient  exam- 
ples. The  Duke  of  Mayenne  killed  with  his  own 
hand  a  soldier  of  fortune  who  had  the  assurance  to 
propose  to  marry  his  step-daughter,  the  son  of  Henry 
of  Guise  proved  his  manhood  by  stabbing  the  Cap- 
tain St.  Pol,  the  Duke  of  Aumale  sought  to  assas- 
sinate the  Duke  of  Epernon,  the  Count  of  Chaligny 
murdered  Chicot  the  Court  jester.  Maurevert,  a 
hireling  bravo  of  the  Guises,  who,  after  failing  to 
assassinate  Coligny,  killed  by  treachery  a  Huguenot 
.gentleman,  his  benefactor,  was  made  a  knight  of  the 
order  of  St.  Michael  by  Charles  IX.  But  nothing 
perhaps  is  more  significant  than  that,  when  Aubign^ 
accuses  his  admired  master  Henry  IV.  of  seeking  to 
compass  his  assassination,  either  because  he  had 
refused  to  pander  to  his  licentious  amours,  or,  as  he 
would  have  us  believe,  from  jealousy  of  his  martial 
renown,  he  evidently  does  not  suspect  that  he  is 
bringing  a  monstrous  and  improbable  charge  against 
the  Prince,  whom  he  elsewhere  so  loudly  praises. 
Even  the  women  were  prompt  in  the  use  of  the 
dagger.  Madame  de  Chateauneuf,  discovering  the 
infidelity  of  her  husband,  stabbed  him  "  in  right 
manly  fashion  "  then  and  there  with  her  own  hand. 
Never  have  the  unbridled  ferocity  and  savage  pas- 
sions of  the  barbarian  shown  themselves  in  closer 
and  more  startling  contrast  to  the  artificial  corrup 
tions  and  effeminate  graces  of  an  apparently  decadent 
society. 

The  most  prominent   actors   were  worthy   of  the 


/576]  SL  BartJiolomew.  9 1 

scene  and  the  drama.  The  half  frenzied  King  dis- 
trusted all  around  him,  and  none  more  than  his 
brother  Anjou  and  his  mother,  by  whom  he  had 
allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  to  sacrifice  the  one 
man  who  had  touched  his  better  nature,  and  to 
exchange  his  dreams  of  honourable  renown  for 
eternal  infamy.  Charles  IX.  was  capricicms,  violent, 
liable  to  sudden  starts  and  gusts  of  passion.  In  his 
fits  of  fury,  he  lost  all  control  over  his  actions,  and 
showed  in  his  sports  a  morbid  cruelty  and  love  of 
bloodshed.  Yet  he  was  perhaps  the  best  of  his 
family.  He  kept  clear  in  some  measure  of  the 
shameless  immorality  which  disgraced  so  many  of 
his  contemporaries  ;  he  had  real  feeling  for  music 
and  poetry ;  he  addressed  Ronsard  in  well  known 
lines  not  inferior  to  anything  written  by  that  poet. 
He  was  not  incapable  of  being  influenced  by  noble 
motives,  or  by  a  noble  character,  if  brought  into 
contact  with  it.  We  have  seen  the  ascendancy 
Coligny  obtained  over  him,  and  towards  the  misera- 
ble end  of  his  life,  he  befriended  and  clung  to  his 
brother-in-law  Henry  of  Navarre,  recognising  in  him 
some  sparks  of  generosity,  manliness  and  honour 
wanting  in  his  own  brothers. 

Next  to  the  King,  says  a  satirist,  came  one  who 
appeared  better  skilled  to  judge  of  the  harlots  of  the 
Court,  better  composed  for  love — smooth  chin,  pale 
face,  the  gestures  of  a  woman,  the  eye  of  Sardanapa- 
lus ;  and  he  goes  on  to  describe  how  this  ambiguous 
thing  appeared  without  a  blush  at  a  Court  ball,  its 
hair  full  of  strings  and  pearls  under  an  Italian  cap, 
its  smooth   face  rouged  and  whitened,  the   body  of 


92  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

the  doublet  cut  low  like  a  woman's  with  long  sleeves 
falling  to  the  ground,  a  painted  courtesan  rather  than 
a  prince — a  second  Nero,  and  worse  than  Nero,  fed 
from  his  cradle  on  poisons,  secret  wiles  and  treachery. 
The  picture  of  course  is  overcharged — even  Henry 
of  Valois  had  some  qualities  not  wholly  abject.  He 
was  neither  a  madman  like  Charles  IX.  nor  an  ambi- 
tious and  meddlesome  fool  like  his  younger  brother 
Alengon.  He  had  insight  into  men  and  things.  He 
could  speak  with  weight  and  dignity ;  he  had  more 
than  once  given  proof  of  personal  courage.  But  the 
influence  of  his  mother,  the  evil  atmosphere  in  which 
he  had  been  brought  up,  had  at  an  early  age  encour- 
aged a  luxuriant  growth  of  vices  and  follies  which 
choked  his  better  qualities.  He  was  so  entirely 
without  any  moral  sense,  that  not  only  did  it  seem  as 
if  good  and  evil  were  indifferent  to  him,  but  also  as 
if  he  had  lost  all  measure  of  the  relative  importance 
of  the  objects  he  pursued. 

Of  the  three  sons  of  Henry  H.,  the  youngest, 
Francis  Duke  of  Alengon,  was  the  most  contemptible, 
in  ability  and  even  in  character ;  and  although,  as  a 
contrast  to  the  shameless  effeminacy  of  his  brother 
Anjou,  he  affected  a  rough  frankness  and  martial 
bearing,  he  was  not  less  false,  or  less  corrupt.  If  all 
treachery  were  banished  from  earth,  said  Margaret  of 
Valois  of  this  her  favourite  brother,  he  had  enough 
to  re-stock  the  world. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  Princes  of  the  Blood, 
was  the  head  of  the  younger  branch  of  the  House  of 
Lorraine,  the  youthful  Henry  of  Guise — courting 
popularity,    affable    and    splendid,    concealing    an 


HENRY   III. 


15761  '^^^  Bartholomew.  93 

insatiable    and    unscrupulous    ambition    under   the 
exterior  of  a  soldier  and  a  man  of  pleasure. 

United  in  their  amusements  and  debaucheries, 
these  young  Princes  were  divided  by  their  ambition 
and  by  the  interests  of  those  who  had  attached  them- 
selves to  their  fortunes. 

^Catherine  de'  Medici  no  doubt  was  well  pleased 
with  the  success  of  her  policy.  The  Admiral,  whose 
influence  over  the  King  would  have  been  fatal  to  her 
ambition,  was  dead.  Six  hundred  of  the  most  prom- 
inent Huguenot  nobles  had  perished,  and  a  blow  had 
been  dealt  to  their  party  from  which  it  was  believed 
that  it  would  not  readily  recover,  "^ 

The  French  Court  showed  a  little  consistency  in 
the  accounts  which  it  gave  of  the  events  of  the  24th 
of  August.  Naturally  it  did  not  wish  to  present  the 
massacre  in  the  same  light  to  Elizabeth  and  to  the 
Protestant  Princes  of  Germany  as  to  the  Pope  and 
Philip  of  Spain.  But  the  version  which  on  the  whole 
it  seemed  desirable  to  have  accepted  was  that  the 
Huguenots  had  formed  a  conspiracy  against  the 
Crown,  that  the  King  had  been  compelled  to  take 
measures  to  defend  himself,  but  that  the  excesses 
committed  had  proceeded  from  the  hostility  of  the 
Plouses  of  Guise  and  Chatillon,  and  from  the  uncon- 
trollable religious  zeal  of  the  Parisians. 

To  Catherine  the  massacre  was  merely  a  domestic 
incident ;  she  did  not  intend  to  allow  it  to  influence 
the  foreign  policy  of  France.  What  she  had  ob- 
jected to  had  been  not  the  policy  which  Coligny 
urged  upon  the  King,  but  Coligny  himself.  It  is 
true  that  she  had  shrunk  from  a  formal  declaration 


94  Henry  of  Navarre,  [1555- 

of  war  against  Spain,  but  she  was  ready  to  vie  with 
Queen  EHzabeth  in  helping  the  rebels  and  harrying 
the  subjects  of  a  Prince  still,  in  diplomatic  phrase, 
her  good  friend  and  ally. 

Various  circumstances  tended  to  encourage  Cath- 
erine in  the  belief  that  a  government  so  stained  with 
murder  and  perfidy,  execrated  by  half  Europe,  could, 
up  to  a  certain  point,  adopt  as  its  own  and  carry  on 
the  policy  of  the  Admiral. 

At  the  first  report  of  the  blow,  the  fatal  blow  as 
it  was  supposed,  dealt  to  the  Protestant  cause  in 
France,  Orange  advancing  to  the  relief  of  Mons  was 
driven  back  into  Holland.  The  rebellion  was  crushed 
in  the  southern  provinces,  the  garrisons  and  popula- 
tions which  had  refused  to  admit  the  Spanish  troops 
were  exterminated.  Holland  and  Zealand  still  re- 
sisted, but  their  resistance  seemed  hopeless  unless 
they  could  obtain  help  from  no  matter  what  quarter. 
It  was  just  because  her  crime  had  been  so  fatal  to 
them,  that  the  Nassaus  could  not  refuse  the  hand 
which  Catherine  held  out,  red  though  it  was  with 
the  blood  of  their  brethren. 

Nor  did  Queen  Elizabeth  venture  to  break  with 
the  French  Court,  fearing  lest  :t  should  be  driven 
into  an  alliance  with  Spain.  The  indignation  of  the 
English  people  was  indeed  deeply  stirred,  and  the 
Queen  gave  some  satisfaction  to  their  feelings  by 
the  theatrical  severity  of  her  reception  of  the  French 
ambassador,  when  he  attempted  to  justify  his  Gov- 
ernment. Cecil,  whose  sympathy  with  the  Protes- 
tants of  the  continent  was  deeper  than  that  of  his 
mistress,  ventured  to  condemn  in  harsher  terms  the 


1576]  Results  of  tJic  Massacre.  95 

unexampled  infamy  of  a  crime  committed  in  the 
presence  of  the  King  and  in  violation  of  his  plighted 
word,  but  he  too  felt  that  even  in  such  a  cause,  Eng- 
land could  not  venture  to  quarrel  with  her  only  ally. 

It  is  not  probable  that  Catherine  quickly  realised 
how  completely  her  master-stroke  had  failed  in  at- 
taining the  result  she  expected  in  France.  The 
Huguenots  were  stunned  for  a  space  by  the  violence 
of  the  blow.  The  death  of  the  Admiral  and  of  so 
many  of  their  leading  men  threw  the  organisation 
of  the  party  out  of  gear.  Many  who  had  joined  the 
Protestants  from  interested  motives  abandoned  a 
cause  which  they  considered  desperate ;  others  af- 
fected to  see  in  this  disaster  the  judgment  of  heaven, 
and  followed  Navarre  and  Conde  to  Mass.  Nothing 
but  a  conviction  of  the  hopelessness  of  further  re- 
sistance could  have  induced  La  Noue,  the  Knight 
without  reproach,  the  Bayard  of  his  party,  to  be- 
come the  agent  of  the  murderers  of  his  friends  and 
to  undertake  the  task  of  persuading  La  Rochelle  to 
admit  a  royal  garrison. 

But  friends  and  enemies  were  soon  to  learn  that 
though  the  effect  of  the  massacre  on  the  Huguenot 
party  was  great,  it  had  done  little  to  break  their 
spirit,  or  even  to  diminish  their  power  of  resistance. 
Most  of  the  powerful  nobles  to  whom  they  had 
looked  up  as  their  leaders  had  been  slaughtered, 
others  had  conformed  to  Romanism.  After  1572 
the  popular  element  predominated  in  the  Huguenot 
assemblies.  The  struggle  which  the  Bourbons  and 
the  Chatillons  had  begun  was  continued  by  the 
citizens  of  La  Rochelle  and  Montauban,  of  Sancerre 


96  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1553- 

and  Nimes.  But  the  princes  and  nobles  had  only 
demanded  religious  liberty,  the  townsmen,  not  con- 
tent with  asking  for  toleration,  required  also  that 
the  States-General  should  be  assembled,  the  politi- 
cal grievances  of  the  country  remedied.  The  repub- 
lican tendencies  which  seem  to  be  the  necessary 
consequence  of  Calvinism,  began  to  make  them- 
selves felt.  Numerous  books  and  pamphlets  poured 
from  the  press,  publishing  on  the  housetops,  what 
hitherto  men  had  scarcely  whispered  in  a  friend's 
ear,  discussing  the  reciprocal  rights  of  rulers  and 
subjects,  and  affirming  that  if  the  King  sought  the 
hurt  of  his  people,  they  were  absolved  from  their 
allegiance.  The  obedience,  so  it  was  now  taught,  of 
the  people  is  conditional  on  the  Prince  performing 
his  engagement,  whether  implied  or  explicit,  to  gov- 
ern justly  and  equitably.  No  man  is  born  a  king, 
and  it  was  proved  historically  that  the  French  mon- 
archy was  elective,  and  that  sovereignty  was  not  in 
the  Crown,  but  in  the  people,  represented  by  the 
Three  Estates.  This  natural  and  lawful  sovereignty 
of  the  nation,  after  lasting  eleven  centuries,  had  been 
extinguished  by  the  gradual  and  unconstitutional 
encroachments  of  the  kings.  The  inapplicability  to 
the  French  monarchy  of  the  Imperialist  maxims 
borrowed  by  the  lawyers  from  Roman  law  was 
pointed  out.  The  only  possible  justification  of  des- 
potism is  the  maintenance  of  order  ;  the  Massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew  had  been  an  appeal  to  disorder, 
licence  and  anarchy.  The  Government  had  let  loose 
upon  society  those  destructive  passions  which  it  is 
its  primary  function  to  bridle.     It  was  thus  that  the 


1576]  Results  of  the  Massacre.  97 

Protestant  publicists  forged  the  weapons  afterwards 
used  by  the  League  in  their  struggle  against  Henry 
III.  and  Henry  IV. 

The  Protestant  middle  classes  in  uniting  the  cause 
of  political  liberty  and  progress  with  that  of  their 
religion  showed  a  truer  insight  into  the  needs  of 
their  country  than  was  ever  attained  to  by  the 
nobles  of  their  party.  It  would  have  proved  of  in- 
estimable advantage  to  France  had  they  been  able 
to  make  their  voice  heard  with  more  decisive  effect. 
In  the  mouths  of  the  demagogues  of  the  League,  of 
the  hirelings  of  Spain  and  of  the  disciples  of  the 
Jesuits,  such  an  appeal  to  the  old  constitutionaC 
liberties  of  France,  and  to  the  indefeasible  sover- 
eignty of  the  people  was  a  meaningless  or  hypo- 
critical jargon. 

Montauban,  Sancerre  and  La  Rochelle  set  the  first 
example  of  resistance,  refusing  to  receive  the  royal 
garrisons.  Towards  the  end  of  1572  a  synod  held 
in  Beam  drew  up  a  plan  for  the  organisation  of  the 
Protestant  communities  in  districts,  governed  by 
officers  elected  by  all  classes. 

The  Government  determined  to  attack  La  Rochelle, 
in  every  respect  the  most  important  of  the  Huguenot 
strongholds,  the  port  by  which  they  communicated 
with  their  friends  in  the  Low  Countries  and  Eng- 
land, and  which  assisted  the  cause  by  contributing  a 
considerable  share  of  the  wealth  acquired  by  prey- 
ing on  Spanish  commerce. 

The  siege  of  La  Rochelle  cost  the  lives  of  over 
20,000  men  and  of  more  than  three  hundred  officers 
of  some  distinction      The  King  of  Navarre  and  the 


98  Henry  of  Navarre.  [|555 

Prince  of  Cond^  were  compelled  to  prove  the  sin- 
cerity of  their  conversion  by  serving  side  by  side 
with  the  Guises  under  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  But 
this  Prince  had  meantime  been  elected  King  of 
Poland.  The  French  agents  had  spared  neither  lies 
nor  promises.  Anjou,  they  declared,  had  taken  no 
share  in  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants,  which  he 
had  always  lamented.  It  was  not  desirable  that  the 
Polish  ambassadors,  who  were  on  their  way  to  salute 
their  new  sovereign,  should  find  him  engaged  in  the 
siege  of  a  Protestant  town.  To  appear  to  yield  to  a 
diplomatic  necessity  was  less  humiliating  than  to 
confess  the  total  failure  of  all  efforts  to  take  La 
Rochelle  by  treachery  or  force ;  and  the  Court 
gladly  seized  the  opportunity  to  offer  acceptable 
terms  to  the  besieged  (June  24,  1573).  -* 

The  lesson  taught  by  the  successful  resistance  of 
La  Rochelle  was  not  thrown  away.  On  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  massacre  (August  24,  1573),  the  delegates 
of  the  Huguenots  of  Languedoc  and  Guienne  met 
and  after  organising  themselves  into  a  kind  of  federal 
republic,  sent  a  deputation  to  communicate  their  de- 
mands to  the  King  :  complete  toleration  and  liberty 
of  worship  throughout  the  kingdom  ;  all  law  courts 
to  contain  an  equal  number  of  judges  of  both  reli- 
gions ;  members  of  the  Reformed  Church  to  be  re- 
leased from  the  payment  of  tithes  ;  punishment  of 
the  authors  of  the  massacre  and  restitution  of  the 
property  of  the  victims  to  th^ir  heirs  ;  two  fortresses 
in  each  province  to  be  placed  as  security  in  the 
hands  of  the  Protestants  and  garrisoned  by  them  at 
the  King's  expense.     Catherine  exclaimed  in  indig- 


1576J  Results  of  the  Massacre.  99 

nant  amazement,  "  that  if  Conde  had  been  ahve  and 
in  possession  of  Paris  with  70,000  men  he  would  not 
have  asked  half  so  much,"  yet  she  did  not  dare 
altocfether  to  refuse  to  entertain  the  demands  of  the 
Reformers — so  threatening  had  become  the  attitude 
of  the  moderate  Catholic  party,  the  Politicians.  They 
were  disgusted  by  the  misgovcrnment  of  Charles  IX., 
the  perfidy  and  cruelty  of  his  mother,  the  baseness 
of  her  Italian  favourites.  The  sufferings  of  the 
Huguenots  had  excited  the  sympathy  of  many  who 
did  not  care  to  abandon  the  Established  Church,  yet 
were  not  fanatically  attached  to  its  doctrines.  A 
spirit  of  compromise  and  toleration  was  more  widely 
diffused,  weariness  of  the  sufferings  caused  by  a 
struggle  in  which  the  atrocities  of  the  Catholics  had 
been  avenged  by  reprisals  scarcely  less  cruel,  indigna- 
tion that  such  horrors  should  be  perpetrated  in  the 
name  of  religion,  experience  of  the  fact  that  it  was 
possible  for  two  religions  to  exist  side  by  side  in  the 
same  state  and  even  in  the  same  town,  disposed  all 
humane  and  moderate  men  to  wish  rather  to  join  in 
seeking  to  remedy  the  anarchy  and  misgovcrnment 
under  which  the  country  was  sinking,  than  to  attempt 
to  restore  unity  of  faith  by  the  sword.  Moreover 
the  Montmorencys,  the  leaders  of  the  moderate 
party,  were  aware  that  the  Queen-Mother  intended 
their  ruin  after  that  of  the  Bourbons  and  Chatillons. 
The  Politicians  published  a  manifesto  demanding 
the  reformation  of  the  Government,  the  assembly  of 
the  Estates,  and  the  restoration  of  the  national  liber- 
ties. The  Huguenots  began  to  occupy  the  fortresses 
of  Poitou.      Montgomery,  the  splinter  of  whose  lance 


lOO  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

had  killed  Henry  II.,  and  who,  to  the  disappoint- 
ment of  Catherine,  had  escaped  on  St.  Bartholomew's 
Day,  landed  in  Normandy  with  English  supplies  and 
English  volunteers. 

The  Duke  of  Damvillc,  the  second  son  of  the  Con- 
stable Montmorency, who  was  governor  of  Languedoc, 
where  he  ruled  with  almost  sovereign  authority, 
observed  an  attitude  of  friendly  neutrality  to  the 
Huguenots  of  his  province  and  of  Guienne. 

In  Poitou  the  Huguenots  prospered,  but  in  Nor- 
mandy Montgomery  was  unable  to  maintain  himself 
and  was  finally  compelled  to  capitulate. 

Catherine  hurried  to  tell  the  King  that  Mont- 
gomery, whom  she  hated,  was  a  prisoner  ;  but  turn- 
ing his  face  to  the  wall  he  asked  to  be  left  in  peace. 
Even  Protestant  historians  are  moved  to  pity  by 
the  miserable  end  of  Charles  IX,  He  had  again  com- 
pletely fallen  under  the  influence  of  his  mother.  On 
one  point  only  he  had  firmly  insisted.  He  compelled 
his  brother  Anjou  to  leave  France  (September,  1573), 
to  take  possession  of  his  Polish  throne.  Notwith- 
standing his  weak  health  he  exhausted  himself  in 
insane  revels.  He  appeared  to  seek  to  lose  himself 
in  the  wildest  physical  exertions.  His  eyes  were 
sunk,  his  complexion  livid,  he  was  unable  to  meet 
the  gaze  of  those  with  w^hom  he  spoke.  In  the 
autumn  of  1573,  he  was  attacked  by  smallpox,  his 
health  became  worse  and  worse,  he  often  awoke 
bathed  in  his  blood,  a  judgment  as  it  seemed  to  him 
of  the  carnage  to  which  he  had  consented.  Indeed, 
from  the  first  he  was  tormented  by  remorse. 

Less  than  a  fortnight  after  the  massacre,  so  Henry 


CHARLES     IX. 
From  the  painting  by  F.  Clouet. 


1576]  Results  of  the  Massacre.  loi 

IV.  used  to  tell  his  friends,  Charles  IX.  sent  for  him 
in  the  middle  of  the  night ;  the  King  had  started 
from  his  bed  alarmed  by  a  confused  noise  of  shouts, 
shrieks  and  groans,  such  as  had  re-echoed  through 
the  streets  of  Paris  on  that  fatal  night.  Henry  of 
Navarre  himself  and  all  who  were  present  heard  the 
turmoil,  and  officers  were  sent  to  discover  what  new 
riot  had  broken  out  in  the  city.  The  streets  were 
empty,  all  was  quiet  in  Paris,  only  round  the  Louvre 
the  air  was  filled  with  horrid  uproar. 

At  other  times  the  King  was  disturbed  by  black 
bands  of  obscene  birds,  crows  and  ravens,  who  ob- 
stinately perched  on  the  towers  and  gables  of  the 
palace,  and  by  their  importunate  cries  appeared  to 
call  for  such  another  banquet  of  murdered  corpses. 

As  his  death  approached,  the  King  was  constantly 
disturbed  by  fearful  visions.  He  begged  God  to 
have  mercy  on  him  and  on  his  people.  What  would 
become  of  them  ?  he  cried  ;  as  for  himself,  he  well 
knew  that  he  was  lost.  His  last  words  were  that  he 
rejoiced  to  leave  no  son  behind  him,  the  heir  of  his 
kingdom  and  his  crimes. 

Queen  Catherine  showed  both  spirit  and  skill  in 
securing  the  peaceable  succession  of  her  favourite 
son.  Fortunately  for  her  the  opponents  she  had 
most  reason  to  dread  were  in  her  power.  Montmor- 
ency and  Cosse  the  leaders  of  the  Politicians  were 
in  the  Bastille  ;  Navarre  and  Alencon  prisoners  in 
all  but  name,  watched,  wrote  the  English  envoy,  by 
guard  upon  guard,  and  even  the  windows  of  their 
rooms  grated. 

Cond6  alone  had  slipped   from  her  clutches,    and 


102  Heiiry  of  Navarre.  [i555- 

after  visiting  Geneva,  was  negotiating  with  the 
German  Princes  and  collecting  mercenaries  at  Stras- 
bourg. The  news  of  his  brother's  death  reached 
Anjou  in  Poland,  where  he  had  already  disgusted 
his  subjects  by  his  womanish  ways,  his  evident  dis- 
taste for  their  country  and  customs  and  his  neglect 
of  his  public  duties.  He  fled  from  Cracow  with  in- 
decent haste  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  excusing 
himself  on  the  ground  that  the  state  of  France  was 
so  disturbed  that  a  week's  delay  might  imperil  his 
succession.  Yet  instead  of  taking  the  shortest  road 
to  the  French  frontier,  he  preferred  to  travel  by 
Vienna  and  through  Italy,  and  wasted  two  months 
in  luxurious  debauchery.  Pignerol,  the  gate  of  Italy, 
was  restored  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  sumptuous  hospitality.  The  Duke  at 
least  repaid  Henry's  generosity  by  good  advice,  such 
as  he  had  already  received  from  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian and  the  Venetian  Doge.  He  urged  him  to 
conciliate  the  Politicians,  and  to  re-establish  peace 
by  moderate  concessions  to  the  Protestants.  He 
invited  Damville  to  Turin  to  confer  with  the  King. 
Damville  came  and  the  King  tried  to  persuade  his 
host  to  allow  him  to  be  arrested.  Damville  w'as 
warned  to  be  on  his  guard,  and  hastily  returning  to 
Languedoc  at  once  formed  a  closer  alliance  with  the 
Huguenots. 

He  was  elected  protector  of  the  confederates,  but 
was  to  act  by  the  advice  of  a  council  composed  of 
three  representatives  of  each  of  the  districts  which 
adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  Protestants  and  the 
allied  Catholics.     Of  these  deputies,  one  was  to  be  a 


1576]  Results  of  the  Massacre.  103 

noble  and  two  of  the  Third  Estate  ;  the  majority  was 
thus  assured  to  the  representatives  of  the  commons, 
a  decisive  proof  that  the  movement  was  not,  as  has 
been  often  alleged,  aristocratic.  Yet  it  must  be 
allowed  that  the  Protestants  from  henceforth  became 
less  and  less  a  national  party.  In  the  manifesto 
which  they  now  published  we  find  for  the  last  time 
demands  for  toleration  coupled  with  a  clear  state- 
ment of  the  reforms  necessary  for  the  constitutional 
development  of  the  monarchy — regular  meetings  of 
the  States-General,  abolition  of  arbitrary  taxation 
and  other  securities  for  public  liberty. 

Persecution  and  war  had  driven  the  Protestants 
out  of  the  provinces  in  which  they  formed  only  a 
small  minority  of  the  population  ;  they  stood  at  bay 
in  Dauphiny,  Languedoc,  Guienne,  Poitou,  Auvergne 
and  the  lordships  under  the  Pyrenees,  districts  in 
which  the  traditions  of  provincial  independence  were 
most  powerful,  the  sense  of  national  unity  weakest. 
Hence  the  danger  that  the  great  nobles,  the  heads 
of  families,  who  had  long  enjoyed  a  consideration 
and  authority  in  their  respective  provinces  scarcely 
inferior  to  that  of  the  Crown,  such  as  the  La  Tour 
d'Auvergnes  in  Auvergne,  the  La  Rochefoucaulds  in 
Guienne,  the  La  Tremoilles  and  Rohans  in  Poitou, 
might  use  the  strength  of  the  party  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  their  private  ambition.  But  it  cannot  be  too 
often  repeated  that  the  Catholic  party,  the  party  of 
the  League,  was  not  in  any  true  sense  a  more  popu- 
lai  party,  more  patriotic,  or  more  concerned  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  national  liberties  and  unity  than 
their  opponents.      One  of  the  main  objects  of  the 


I04  Henry  of  Navarre. 


[1555- 


Catholic  leaders  was  to  convert  the  governorships  of 
provinces  and  towns  into  hereditary  offices  ;  yet  it 
was  not  forgotten  that  a  similar  conversion  of  the 
counties  and  duchies  of  the  Carlovingian  kingdoms, 
from  offices  held  during  the  good-will  of  the  sovereign 
into  hereditary  principalities,  had  produced  the  dis- 
ruption of  those  kingdoms  and  the  feudal  anarchy  of 
the  loth  and  nth  centuries.  The  numerous  towns 
which  joined  the  League  aimed  only  at  recovering 
the  selfish  municipal  privileges  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
To  secure  the  independence  enjoyed  by  the  free 
towns  of  Germany,  they  would  have  acquiesced  in 
the  partition  of  the  monarchy. 

Catherine  de'  Medici  was  waiting  to  welcome  her 
son  at  Bourgoin  and  they  entered  Lyons  in  state 
together.  There  the  new  King  proclaimed  his  inten- 
tion of  subduing  by  force  of  arms  those  who  resisted 
his  authority.  Refusing  to  listen  to  those  wiser 
councillors  who  pointed  to  the  exhaustion  of  the 
country  and  the  emptiness  of  the  treasury,  he  fol- 
lowed the  advice  of  his  mother,  who,  fearing,  if  peace 
were  made,  the  influence  of  Montmorency  and  other 
Moderates,  and  believing  that  nothing  was  impossible 
to  the  hero  of  Jarnac  and  Montcontour  when  directed 
by  her  councils,  had  abandoned  her  habitual  caution 
and  was  the  advocate  of  a  vigorous  policy. 

But  when  the  money  needed  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  military  operations  had  been  raised  by  loans  from 
foreign  princes,  by  extortion  and  by  ruinous  ex- 
pedients, it  was  wasted  in  senseless  profusion  by  the 
King,  who  showed  his  Catholic  zeal  not  by  placing 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  army,  but  by  conducting 


1376]  Results  of  the  Massacre.  105 

fantastically  dressed  processions  of  penitents.  These 
processions  had  one  good  consequence.  Cardinal 
Charles  of  Lorraine  unaccustomed  to  such  barefoot 
devotions,  caught  a  chill  which  proved  fatal.  The 
Protestants  believed  that  he  was  carried  off  by  the 
devil ;  for  "  something  more  violent  than  the  wind 
tore  down  and  whirled  off  into  the  air  the  lattices  and 
window  bars  of  the  house  where  he  lodged." 

While  Henry  III.  was  parading  his  puerile  piety  in 
the  papal  city  of  Avignon,  Damville  held  twenty 
miles  away,  at  Nimes,  a  general  assembly  of  the 
Huguenots  and  "  united  Catholics."  Discredited  and 
ridiculed,  the  King  journeyed  north  to  be  crowned  at 
Rheims  and  the  confederates  were  encouraged  to 
propose  terms  which  implied  not  the  humiliation 
only  but  the  ruin  of  the  monarchy.  Efforts  were 
made  to  continue  the  war  with  greater  vigour,  when 
the  Court  was  suddenly  alarmed  by  the  news  of  the 
flight  of  the  Duke  of  Alengon,  who  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  rebels  (September,  1575). 

Henry  of  Bourbon  both  disliked  and  despised 
Alen^on  and  chafed  to  see  him  occupying,  as  the 
champion  and  leader  of  the  Reformers,  a  position  to 
which  he  felt  that  he  himself  had  a  better  claim. 
Soon  after  the  Duke's  flight,  Cecil's  agent  reports  that 
"  Navarre  was  never  so  merry  nor  so  much  made  of  " 
— but  as  time  went  on,  his  position  at  the  French  Court 
became  neither  more  secure  nor  more  honourable. 

It  was  humiliating  to  masquerade  in  Henry  III.'s 
penitential  processions  and  still  more  degrading  to  be 
the  companion  of  debaucheries,  which  in  themselves 
were  not  attractive  to  an  appetite  for  vice,  which  if 


io6  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555- 

scarcely  less  keen  than  the  King's,  was  less  sophisti- 
cated and  jaded.  And  what  if  not  even  the  sacrifice 
of  his  self-respect,  his  dignity  and  his  ambition  could 
secure  his  safety  ? 

All  his  Huguenot  servants  had  been  removed,  ex- 
cept Aubigne,  the  historian,  who,  like  his  master, 
had  hidden  a  serious  purpose  under  a  frivolous  ex- 
terior, and  one  other  :  these  two  sitting  by  his  bed, 
heard  him  sigh  and  repeat  the  88th  psalm,  "  Thou 
hast  put  away  my  acquaintance  far  from  me  and 
made  me  to  be  abhorred  of  them.  I  am  so  fast  in 
prison  that  I  cannot  get  forth."  Upon  this,  Aubigne 
drew  the  curtains  and  addressed  to  his  master  one  of 
those  sententious  speeches  with  which,  if  we  may 
believe  his  history,  he  would  seem  to  have  been 
always  provided.  "  Is  it  true,  Sire,  that  the  spirit 
of  God  still  dwells  and  works  in  you  ?  You  sigh  to 
Him  for  the  absence  of  your  faithful  friends  and  ser- 
vants, while  they  are  met  together  grieving  that  you 
are  not  with  them,  and  labouring  for  your  deliver- 
ance. Are  you  not  weary  of  trying  to  hide  behind 
yourself  ?  you  are  guilty  of  your  greatness  and  of  the 
wrongs  you  have  endured.  The  murderers  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  Day  have  a  good  memory,  and  cannot 
believe  that  of  their  victims  to  be  so  short, 

"  Nay,  if  what  is  dishonourable  were  but  safe  !  But 
no  risk  can  be  greater  than  to  remain.  As  for  us 
two,  we  were  speaking,  when  what  you  said  led  us  to 
draw  the  curtain,  of  escaping  to-morrow.  Consider, 
Sire,  that  you  will  next  be  served  by  hands  which 
will  not  dare  to  refuse  to  employ  poison  or  steel 
against  you." 


f576]  Results  of  the  Massacre.  107 

/  It  is  probable  that  no  eloquence  was  needed  to 
induce  Henry  to  attempt  his  escape  as  soon  as  occa- 
sion offered.  In  the  meantime  he  feigned  to  believe 
the  King's  protestations  of  good-will  and  to  fear  the 
hostility  of  Alengon,  while  he  continued  his  appar- 
ently careless  and  trivial  life.  In  a  letter  to  the 
Governor  of  Beam,  which  he  no  doubt  expected 
would  be  read  by  others,  he  describes  the  Court 
as  being  strangely  distracted,  "  we  are  all  ready  to  cut 
one  another's  throats,  and  wear  daggers,  chain  vests 
and  often  corselets  under  our  cloaks  .  .  .  the  King 
loves  me  more  than  ever.  M.  de  Guise  and  M. 
de  Mayenne  [Guise's  younger  brother]  never  leave 
my  side";  the  partisans  of  Alengon,  he  goes  on  to 
say,  hate  him  to  the  death,  but  in  a  Court  where  all 
others  are  his  friends,  he  does  not  fear  them. 

He  played  the  dupe  so  successfully,  Henry  III. 
was  so  convinced  of  his  infatuation,  that  greater  liberty 
began  to  be  allowed  him.  Toward  the  end  of  Jan- 
uary (1576),  some  ofificers  who  bad  been  disappointed 
in  their  expectation  of  royal  favour  offered,  if  the 
King  of  Navarre  would  separate  himself  from  the 
Court,  to  put  him  in  possession  of  Chartres,  le  Mans 
and  Cherbourg.  In  order  that  they  might  have  time 
for  their  preparations,  and  to  enable  his  friends  to 
collect  a  force  near  Paris,  Henry  postponed  his 
attempt  to  escape  till  February  20th. 

On  February  4th  as  he  came  back  towards  night- 
fall from  hunting  near  Senlis,  he  met  Aubign^  and 
two  or  three  of  his  attendants  galloping  at  full 
speed  from  Paris.  "Sire,"  cried  Aubigne,  "we  are 
betrayed  ;  the  King  knows  all.     The  road   to  Paris 


io8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1555-* 

leads  to  dishonour  and  death,  those  to  Hfe  and  glory 
are  in  the  opposite  direction."  "  There  is  no  need," 
was  the  answer,  "  of  so  many  words  ;  let  us  be  off." 
All  night  long  they  hurried  through  the  dark  and 
frozen  woods,  crossed  the  Seine  as  the  day  broke,  at 
Poissy,  and  without  meeting  any  of  the  numerous 
bodies  of  troops  by  whom  the  country  was  patrolled, 
reached  Alen^on  in  safety  the  next  day.  Here 
Henry  stood  sponsor  at  the  christening,  according 
to  Calvinist  ritual,  of  the  child  of  his  doctor.  As  he 
entered  the  meeting-house,  the  congregation  were 
singing  the  21st  psalm.  "  The  King  shall  rejoice  in 
thy  strength,  O  Lord,  exceeding  glad  shall  he  be  of 
thy  salvation.  Thou  hast  given  him  his  heart's 
desire." 

Hearing  that  the  psalm  had  not  been  specially 
chosen,  he  said  that  he  welcomed  the  omen. 

During  his  long  ride  he  had  been  thoughtful  and 
silent  beyond  his  wont.  He  now  began  to  talk  to 
those  about  him  with  his  usual  cheery  vivacity 
and  apparently  careless  good-fellowship.  He  had, 
he  said,  left  in  Paris  only  two  things  which  he 
regretted — the  Mass  and  his  wife.  The  latter  he 
would  have  again  ;  the  former  he  might  make  shift 
to  do  without. 

From  Alengon  Henry  proceeded  to  Saumuronthe 
Loire,  where  he  was  joined  by  some  of  the  numerous 
Huguenot  gentry  of  the  neighbourhood.  Yet  his 
position  was  difficult.  Not  only  was  Alen^on  recog- 
nised as  the  leader  of  the  opponents  of  the  Court, 
but  Cond^  had  been  acting  as  the  chief  of  the  Prot- 
estants, and   it    was   doubtful  whether    his  greater 


1576]  The  Peace  of  Monsieur.  109 

services  and  more  earnest  devotion  to  the  cause 
would  not  be  held  to  outweigh  the  superior  rank  of 
the  King  of  Navarre.  The  wisest  course  probably 
was  to  take  no  decided  action,  and  to  await  the 
result  of  the  negotiations  which  were  being  carried 
on  between  the  Government  and  the  rebels.  This 
Henry  determined  to  do,  and  in  the  meantime  urged 
his  friends  to  join  him  and  thus  strengthen  his  posi- 
tion whether  for  peace  or  war. 

Catherine  and  her  son  in  their  terror  at  the 
alliance  between  Protestants  and  Politicians,  and  at  a 
threatened  invasion  of  German  mercenaries  due  to 
the  negotiations  of  Conde,  released  the  Marshals 
Montmorency  and  Cosse.  Montmorency  bestirred 
himself  to  bring  about  an  agreement  which  should 
end  the  war.  Whole  districts  were  being  reduced 
to  desolation.  Both  sides  plundered  the  unhappy 
peasantry  with  impartial  cruelty.  But  the  German 
Reitcrs  excelled  in  systematic  rapacity  and  the 
atrocities  perpetrated  by  their  allies  increased  the 
popular  hatred  of  the  Huguenots  in  the  North- 
eastern provinces. 

The  Court  proposed  terms  which  were  generally 
acceptable  {Paix  de  Monsieur,  February,  1576).  The 
conditions  granted  to  the  Protestants  were  more 
favourable  than  any  they  had  hitherto  obtained : 
complete  freedom  of  worship  throughout  the  king- 
dom except  at  Paris ;  the  establishment  of  courts  in 
all  the  Parliaments  composed  of  an  equal  number  of 
judges  of  both  religions  ;  the  restoration  of  the 
Protestants  and  their  allies,  who  were  declared  to  be 
the  good  and  loyal  subjects  of  the  King,  to  all  their 


no  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576 

honours  and  offices;  the  disavowal  of  the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew  and  the  restitution  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  victims  to  their  heirs  ;  and  the  occupation 
of  eight  fortresses,  as  a_  security  for  the  due  ob- 
servance of  the  treaty.  In  order  that  other  griev- 
ances might  be  remedied,  the  States-General  were 
to  be  assembled  within  six  months.  Such  were  the 
more  general  stipulations.  Alen^on  further  obtained 
the  addition  to  his  appanage  of  the  duchies  of 
Anjou,  Touraine  and  Berry  and  of  other  lordships 
which  raised  his  revenue  to  400,000  crowns.  Conde 
was  confirmed  in  the  government  of  Picardy. 
Navarre  in  that  of  Guienne.  A  large  sum  was  paid 
to  John  Casimir,  the  brother  of  the  Elector  Palatine 
for  the  wages  of  his  Reiters  and  to  compensate  him 
for  the  trouble  and  expense  of  his  invasion  of  France. 


CHAPTER   III. 

HENRY   OF   NAVARRE   THE    PROTECTOR   OF  THE 
CHURCHES. 


1 576-1 586. 

iHE  terms  of  the  "Peace  of  Monsieur" 
were  far  too  favourable  to  the  Prot- 
estants not  to  excite  the  greatest 
irritation  among  the  more  zealous 
Catholics.  > 

Henry  III.  had  been  determined  to 
end  the  war,  even,  he  said,  should  it  cost  him  half 
his  kingdom.  He  probably  counted  on  the  violent 
reaction  which  was  certain  to  be  provoked,  and  on 
the  resistance  which  the  Parliaments  and  clergy  and 
other  bodies  would  offer  to  the  execution  of  the 
treaty,  as  an  excuse  for  the  non-performance  of  the 
concessions  by  which  he  bought  peace.  But  if  so, 
he  ought  to  have  seen  how  much  his  authority 
would  be  weakened  by  the  double  humiliation  of 
yielding  such  terms  to  rebellious  subjects  and  of 
subsequently  excusing  their  violation  by  the  plea 
that  he  was  powerless  to  enforce  them. 

Ill 


1 1 2  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti576- 

Humi^res,  the  Governor  of  Peronne,  refused  to 
surrender  that  strong  fortress  to  Conde,  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  terms  of  the  peace,  ought  to  ha\^e  been 
placed  in  possession  of  it  as  Governor  of  Picardy, 
and  sought  for  support  by  forming  an  association 
between  the  partisans  of  the  Guises  and  the  most 
fanatical  Catholics  in  the  province.  The  Catholics 
as  well  as  the  Protestants  had  proved  in  the  South 
the  value  of  such  confederations  for  political  and 
military  purposes. 

The  movement  spread,  and,  although  the  better 
class  of  citizens  and  magistrates  held  aloof,  was  re- 
ceived with  special  favour  in  Paris,  and  soon  grew 
into  a  general  Holy  League,  or  association  of  the  ex- 
treme Catholic  party  throughout  the  kingdom. 

A  paper  setting  forth  the  objects  of  the  associa- 
tion and  the  obligations  which  its  members  assumed 
was  widely  circulated.  The  preamble  declared,  that 
the  Holy  League  of  the  Catholic  princes,  lords  and 
gentlemen — it  is  significant  that  there  is  no  mention 
of  towns  or  burgesses — was  formed  to  re-establish 
the  authority  of  the  law  of  God  and  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Roman  Church  ;  to  restore  to  the  provinces  and 
estates  of  the  kingdom  their  privileges  and  fran- 
chises, as  they  had  existed  in  the  time  of  King 
Clovis ;  to  support  the  honour  of  the  King  and  to 
obey  him  and  after  him  all  the  posterity  of  the 
House  of  Valois,  thus  implicitly  excluding  the 
Bourbon  Princes  from  the  succession.  The  members 
bound  themselves  to  obey  loyally  the  head  of  the 
association,  to  punish  with  the  utmost  severity  who- 
soever under   any   pretext  whatever  attempted  to 


1586]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        113 

withdraw  himself  from  the  League,  and  to  regard  as 
enemies  all  who  refused  to  join  it,  to  defend  each 
other  against  any  assailant,  whoever  he  might  be — • 
i.  e.,  even  against  the  King — and  to  endeavour  to 
compass  the  objects  of  the  association  against  no 
matter  what  opposition. 

The  same  articles  of  association  were  probably  not 
shown  to  all  members,  and  those  which  were  most 
threatening  to  his  authority  were  certainly  concealed 
from  the  King.  Yet  they  could  not  long  be  kept 
secret.  From  the  first  the  League  was  regarded  with 
suspicion  by  all  loyal  Frenchmen,  and  Henry  IIL 
endeavoured  to  obtain  a  promise  from  the  Guises, 
that  they  would  form  no  associations  which  were 
likely  to  lead  to  a  breach  of  the  recent  peace. 

But  the  reaction  of  popular  feeling  against  the 
Protestants  was  violent.  They  were  attacked  and 
their  worship  disturbed  by  the  populace ;  if  they 
appealed  to  the  protection  of  the  laws,  they  ob- 
tained no  redress,  and  the  obstinate  ill-will  of  the 
Parliaments  prevented  the  establishment  of  the 
mixed  courts. 

The  King  hoped  by  his  statecraft  and  their  mutual 
rivalry  to  depress  his  opponents,  whether  Guises, 
Bourbons  or  Montmorencys,  and  gradually  to  eradi- 
cate heresy  without  having  recourse  to  arms,  and  with- 
out subordinating  French  interests  to  those  of  Spain. 
But  to  carry  out  such  a  plan  required  patient  self- 
control  as  well  as  extreme  skill  in  perceiving  and 
utilising  the  force  of  opposing  tendencies. 

Henry  HL  studied  his  Commines  and  MachiavelH, 
spun  fine  webs  of  policy  and  intrigue  in  his  cabinet, 
9 


114  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

but  either  failed  to  carry  them  out,  or  carried  them 
out  in  such  a  manner  that  they  only  damaged  his 
position. 

For  instance,  the  idea  of  counterbalancing  the 
power  of  the  great  nobles  by  raising  to  an  equality 
with  them,  men  who  should  owe  their  fortune  to  his 
favour  was  not  impolitic.  But  Henry  chose  such 
minions  as  Villequier,  and  the  son-in-law  of  this 
wife-murderer,  the  not  less  infamous  D'O,  recom- 
mended only  by  a  common  taste  for  debauch- 
ery. His  great  favourites,  Epernon  and  Joyeuse 
were  indeed  men  of  a  different  stamp  ;  the  former 
especially  did  him  good  service.  But  that  service 
was  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  discredit 
and  the  reputation  for  weakness  which  the  King 
incurred  by  his  foolish  fondness  and  profusion. 
Almost  everything  depended  on  the  personal  im- 
pression made  by  the  King  and  on  the  practice  of  a 
wise  economy.  But  Henry  HI.  threw  money  away 
with  both  hands,  wasting  it  in  frivolous,  indecent, 
but  most  costly  feasts,  squandering  it  on  the  minis- 
ters of  his  pleasures,  buying  curiosities  and  precious 
stones  at  absurd  prices. 

He  was  in  many  ways  very  jealous  of  his  royal 
dignity,  and  endeavoured  to  introduce  into  his  Court 
the  stately  ceremonial  of  Spanish  etiquette.  But 
since  this  to  some  extent  restricted  the  crowded 
publicity  in  which  the  French  kings  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  pass  their  lives,  the  innovations  he  made 
were  generally  unpopular;  and  the  worst  interpreta- 
tion was  put  upon  the  King's  supposed  desire  to 
avoid  the  observation  of  his  subjects.     To  a  modern 


t586]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        1 1 5 

reader  the  regulations  which  he  pubhshed  do  not 
seem  to  indicate  any  morbid  craving  for  solitude. 
The  cup  of  beef-tea,  on  which  the  King  broke  his 
fast  before  leaving  his  bedroom,  was  to  be  borne  in 
procession  by  the  chief  physician,  accompanied  by 
two  chamberlains,  one  carrying  bread,  the  other 
water,  and  by  the  cup-bearer,  followed  by  the  Car- 
dinals and  Princes,  the  great  officers  of  state  and  the 
members  of  the  council  attending  the  Icvc'e. 

On  Mondays  the  King  would  hunt,  on  Wednes- 
days ride  his  managed  horses,  on  Thursdays  and 
Sundays  play  tennis  or  pall-mall  in  public.  All  day 
long  he  was  followed  about  by  a  crowd  of  courtiers; 
at  dinner  a  balustrade  gave  him  the  privacy  of  a 
beast  in  a  menagerie.  At  night  when  he  retired 
into  his  room,  he  found  his  "  singing  men  discours- 
ing music,"  and  only  after  his  boots  were  taken  ofT, 
he  went  into  his  cabinet,  into  which  none  might  fol- 
low but  Epernon  or  Joyeuse  bearing  his  bed  candle. 

But  no  elaboration  of  ceremonial  could  make  his 
subjects  respect  the  person  or  policy  of  a  King,  who 
—  to  mention  his  follies  rather  than  his  vices — 
dressed  more  like  a  woman  than  a  man,  who  kept 
his  council  waiting  for  hours  while  he  dressed  his 
wife's  hair  or  starched  her  ruffs,  who  at  a  serious 
crisis  of  his  affairs  found  time  to  drive  round  Paris 
and  steal  the  ladies'  lapdogs  ;  wdio  gave  solemn 
audience  to  ambassadors  with  a  basketful  of  puppies 
slung  from  his  neck  by  a  broad  silk  ribbon  ;  who  left 
the  reports  of  his  ministers  unread,  while  he  re- 
freshed his  memory  of  the  Latin  Grammar ;  who 
introduced  the  fashion  of  playing  Cup  and  Ball  in 


1 1 6  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti576- 

season  and  out  ;  and  whose  devotions  were  hardly 
more  serious  or  more  decent  than  his  debaucheries. 

He  was  soon  so  despised,  that  the  dignity,  the 
grace  and  the  fascination  which  were  his  when  he 
chose  to  assume  them,  lost  all  power.  But  indeed 
at  the  best  his  dignity  was  too  much  that  of  an  actor 
on  the  stage,  a  hasty  word  or  an  aside  would  often 
betray  that  it  was  only  assumed  for  the  occasion ; 
his  grace  and  fascination  were  those  of  a  fawning, 
cat-like  beast,  whose  treacherous  claws  may  at  any 
moment  be  darted  into  the  flesh  which  it  caresses. 

The  States-General  had  been  summoned  to  meet 
at  Blois  in  December  (1576).  The  League  exerted 
itself  to  the  utmost  to  terrorise  the  elections,  and  it 
was  assisted  by  the  whole  influence  of  the  govern- 
ment. The  Protestants  and  the  Politicians,  discon- 
tented at  the  non-fulfilment  of  the  terms  of  the 
peace,  and  seeing  that  the  Catholic  associations  and 
the  Crown  nowhere  allowed  even  a  semblance  of 
freedom  to  the  elections,  held  wholly  aloof ;  no 
deputies  of  any  of  the  Three  Estates  came  from  the 
districts  and  towns  which  were  in  their  power. 

They  expected  that  measures  would  be  passed 
fatal  to  their  interests,  and  wished  to  leave  no  pre- 
tence for  describing  the  States-General  of  Blois  as  a 
free  and  full  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  the 
nation.  Yet  in  so  acting  the  Huguenots  and  their 
allies  made  a  grave  mistake,  since,  notwithstanding 
their  abstention  and  the  terrorism  of  the  League, 
only  a  bare  majority  of  the  Third  Estate  voted  in 
favour  of  restoring  the  unity  of  the  faith  by  force  ; 
and  that  vote  was  rendered  nugatory  by  the  refusal 


1586]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        1 1 7 

of  the  supplies  without  which  war  could  not  be  suc- 
cessfully waged. 

As  the  proceedings  went  on,  the  members  of  the 
lay  Estates  showed  more  and  more  aversion  to  the 
League,  and  one  of  their  number  published  a  pam- 
phlet in  which  he  accused  the  Guises  and  other  leaders 
of  the  association  of  seeking  only  how  they  might 
establish  themselves  as  independent  princes  in  their 
respective  provinces. 

After  obtaining  all  he  wished  by  the  treaty  of 
1576,  Alengon  had  been  at  little  pains  to  conceal  his 
dislike  of  his  Protestant  allies.  He  told  his  intimates 
that  to  know  the  heretics  was  to  hate  them,  that 
La  Noue  was  the  only  honest  man  in  the  whole  set. 
It  was  therefore  easy  for  the  friends  of  the  King  of 
Navarre  to  establish  his  superior  claim  to  be  recog- 
nised as  the  Protector  of  the  Reformed  Churches. 

But  although  he  had  been  publicly  re-admitted 
into  the  Calvinist  communion  (at  Thouars  or  Niort, 
in  June,  1576),  Henry  did  not  without  difficulty  ob- 
tain admission  into  the  walls  of  La  Rochelle.  The 
citizens  could  not  forget  that  he  had  fought  in  the 
ranks  of  their  assailants  and  that  even  now  there 
were  among  his  followers  many  who  had  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's 
Day.  At  length  he  was  allowed  to  enter  the  Prot- 
estant stronghold  accompanied  only  by  his  sister 
and  a  few  Huguenot  attendants,  and  when  with  tears 
and  ready  emotion  he  deplored  his  enforced  apostasy 
before  the  assembled  congregation,  there  seemed  to 
be  no  further  reason  to  question  the  sincerity  of  his 
religious  convictions. 


1 1 8  Henry  of  Navarre.  Wbi^ 

From  La  Rochclle  Henry  journeyed  through 
Guienne  to  his  hereditary  dominions  in  the  South. 
The  news  which  he  received  from  Court  made  it  clear 
that  the  treaty  so  recently  concluded  was  not  even 
to  be  a  truce.  La  Noue,  he  wrote  to  Damville,  had 
been  with  him  and  had  given  him  good  and  faithful 
advice.  It  was  the  intention  of  their  common  enemies 
to  destroy  them  ;  an  intention  only  to  be  prevented 
by  their  union. 

While  preparing  for  the  impending  storm,  Henry 
received  at  Agen  (February,  1577)  a  deputation  sent 
by  the  estates  of  Blois,  to  express  their  regret  that 
he  had  not  seen  good  to  attend  their  session,  and 
their  hope  that  he  would  assist  their  endeavours  to 
restore  unity  and  peace  to  France.  He  was  moved 
to  tears  by  the  eloquence  with  which  their  spokes- 
man, the  Archbishop  of  Vienne,  dwelt  on  the  ca- 
lamities which  resistance  to  the  King's  commands 
would  entail  on  the  country ;  but  replied,  that  the 
evil  advisers  who  persuaded  his  Majesty  to  break  the 
peace  would  be  responsible  for  those  sufferings. 
They  had  urged  him  to  embrace  the  true  Catholic 
faith  ;  as  to  that,  his  constant  prayer  to  God  was, 
that  if,  as  he  believed,  he  held  the  true  faith,  he 
might  be  confirmed  in  it,  but  if  not,  that  He  might 
be  pleased  to  enlighten  him,  and  give  him  will  and 
power  to  drive  all  error  not  only  from  his  own  heart, 
but  also  from  his  kingdom,  and  if  possible  from  the 
world ; — a  declaration  which  showed  no  very  stub- 
born dogmatism,  and  not  out  of  keeping  with  a 
profession  of  faith  made  a  few  days  earlier  in  a  letter 
to  a  Catholic  friend.     "  Those  who  honestly  follow 


1686J       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        119 

their  conscience  are  of  my  religion,  and  mine  is  that 
of  all  brave  and  good  men."  Sentiments,  laudable 
in  themselves ;  yet  such  professed  latitudinarianism 
was  unpalatable  to  the  Calvinists,  even  before  it 
could  be  interpreted  by  the  light  of  later  events. 
Yet,  though  on  this  as  on  other  occasions  Henry  did 
not  forget  to  treat  his  enemies  as  if  they  might  some 
day  be  his  friends,  he  was  active  in  preparing  for  the 
hostilities  which  ensued,  and  in  carrying  them  on 
when  once  begun.  The  m.an,  he  said,  who  after  he 
has  put  on  his  breastplate  still  loves  his  ease,  had 
better  not  meddle  with  war. 

He  had  now  for  the  first  time  an  opportunity  of 
showing  how  far  he  possessed  the  qualities  of  a  gen- 
eral and  a  statesman  ;  that  he  was  brave  and  clement 
he  had  already  given  some  proof.  Entering  the 
small  town  of  Eausse  in  his  county  of  Armagnac,  he 
had  been  suddenly  attacked  with  cries  of  "  Aim  at 
the  white  plume,"  by  two  hundred  or  more  fanatics, 
who  by  dropping  the  portcullis  behind  him  separated 
him  from  his  guards.  Accompanied  by  only  four 
gentlemen,  the  King  charged  his  assailants  with  such 
vigour  that  he  was  able  to  reach  the  porch  of  a  house, 
where  with  his  companions  he  kept  his  enemies  at 
bay  till  his  followers  had  scaled  the  walls.  When 
master  of  the  town,  he  forbade  all  reprisals,  ajuLpaiy 
allowed  the  punishment  of  two  or  three  of  the'ring- 
leaders. 

Among  the  four  who  fought  at  Eausse  by  the  side 
of  Henry  of  Bourbon,  were  two  young  men  whose 
names  and  renown  are  closely  connected  with  that 
of  their    master :     Philip  de  Mornay,    Lord   of  Le 


1 20  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1S76- 

Plessis-Marly,  and  Maximilian  dc  B^thune,  Baron  of 
Rosny. 

Philip  de  Mornay  was  born  in  1549.  Destined  by 
hjs  Catholic  father  for  the  Church,  he  matriculated, 
when  eight  years  old,  at  the  College  of  Lisieux  in  the 
University  of  Paris.  Two  years  later  his  father  died, 
and  his  education  devolved  on  his  mother,  a  Cal- 
vinist.  Her  care  and  circumstances  combined  to 
give  him  the  training  best  suited  to  fit  him  for  the 
part  he  was  destined  to  play.  He  visited  Geneva, 
he  studied  at  Heidelberg  and  Padua,  he  travelled  in 
Germany  and  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries.  He 
was  equally  versed  in  books  and  in  the  manners  and 
cities  of  men,  in  the  accomplishments  of  a  scholar, 
and  of  a  soldier  and  statesman. 

In  his  twenty-third  year  he  submitted  to  Coligny 
a  memorandum  on  the  state  of  the  Low  Countries, 
which  determined  the  Admiral  to  send  him  as  con- 
fidential envoy  to  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The  massacre 
prevented  this  mission  with  the  other  plans  of  the 
Protestant  leader. 

Mornay  escaped  immediate  death  by  the  humanity 
of  his  Catholic  host.  Disdaining  the  proffered  pro- 
tection of  the  Guises,  he  made  his  way  by  prudence 
and  good  luck  to  the  coast  and  crossed  over  into 
England,  wheie  the  warm  recommendations  of  Wal- 
singham  obtained  for  him  a  favourable  reception  at 
Court  and  the  confidence  of  the  Queen's  advisers. 
Recalled  to  France  by  La  Noue,  Mornay  had  taken 
part  in  the  negotiations  between  Cond^,  Alencon 
and  the  Germans,  and  in  the  following  campaign. 
In  the  midst  of  the  bustle  of  diplomacy  and  war  he 


1586]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        121 

found  time  to  woo  and  wed  Charlotte  Arbaleste,  a 
young  Protestant  widow,  well  fitted  by  her  talents 
and  character  to  be  the  worthy  partner  of  his  life 
and  thoughts. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  Peace  of  Monsieur, 
Mornay  joined  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  was  at  once 
admitted  into  his  council,  where  his  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  foreign  courts  and  countries  was  of 
the  greatest  service.  A  manifesto,  in  which  Henry 
justified  his  conduct,  his  attitude  to  the  Estates,  and 
his  warlike  preparations  was  the  first  of  that  admi- 
rable series  of  state  papers  written  by  Mornay, 
remarkable  alike  for  their  lucidity,  dignity  and 
moderation,  which  did  much  to  raise  the  reputation 
of  the  King  of  Navarre  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  France. 

At  Eausse  he  proved  that  he  was  as  ready  with 
his  sword  as  with  his  pen,  and  although  his  exploits 
as  a  soldier  were  obscured  by  his  renown  as  a  states- 
man, the  King  had  little  reason  to  boast  in  his  off- 
hand way,  when  on  a  later  occasion  Mornay  had 
done  some  notable  service,  "  that  he  knew  in  case  of 
need  how  to  turn  even  an  inkhorn  into  a  captain." 
Not  men  only  of  the  moderate  party,  such  as  I'Estoile 
and  De  Thou,  but  Leaguers  who  continued  French- 
men, like  Jeannin  and  Villeroy,  sought  the  friend- 
ship of  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  and  the  verdict  of  his 
contemporaries  has  been  confirmed  by  posterity. 
"  Even  in  the  caricature  of  the  Hcnriadc,  where  the 
figures  of  the  wars  of  religion  are  set  up  in  gilt 
gingerbread  in  the  taste  of  the  Grand  Sitcle,  the  noble 
lineaments  of  the  Calvinist  gentleman  stand  out  as 
if  incapable  of  disfigurement."     "  If,"  says  a  clear- 


122  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

sighted  though  fanciful  French  historian,  "  if  virtue 
had  a  home  on  earth,  it  was  in  the  heart  of  Mor- 
nay." 

Very  different  was  the  character  and  the  am- 
biguous reputation  of  Maximilian  de  Bethune, 
Baron  of  Rosny,  better  known  to  posterity  as  Duke 
of  Sully.  Like  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  he  had  narrowly 
escaped  the  massacre  of  1572,  partly  by  good-for- 
tune, partly  by  a  presence  of  mind  remarkable  in  a  boy 
barely  thirteen  years  old.  A  student  at  the  College 
of  Burgundy  he  had,  warned  of  his  danger  by  the 
master  of  the  house  in  which  he  lodged,  put  on  his 
academical  dress,  and  breviary  in  hand  passed  unmo- 
lested through  the  scene  of  bloodshed  till  he  found 
shelter  in  the  house  of  the  rector  of  his  college. 

As  soon  as  it  was  safe  to  do  so  he  sought  out  and 
attached  himself  by  his  father's  orders  to  the  King 
of  Navarre  and  followed  his  fortunes  when  he 
escaped  from  Paris. 

The  number  of  portraits  extant  often  only  in- 
creases the  difficulty  of  forming  a  consistent  con- 
ception of  the  features  of  the  dead,  and  the  fact  that 
the  character  of  Rosny  has  been  sketched  from  the 
most  various  points  of  view,  does  not  enable  us  to 

V pronounce  judgment  with  greater  confidence  on  the 
minister  of  Henry  IV. 

He  was  disliked  by  the  Catholics  as  a  Protestant, 
who  nevertheless  reached  the  highest  position  in  the 
state  ;  the  Huguenots  suspected  the  sincerity  of  a 
believer  who  constantly  preferred  the  interests  of 
the  monarchy  to  those  of  his  sect,  who  approved  or 
even   urged   his  master's  perversion,  who    was   the 


1686]       The  Protector  of  the   CJiurches.         123 

rival  of  Du  Plessis-Morna}^  the  friend  of  Dii  Perron, 
the  ex-Huguenot,  court  divine  and  sophist. 

The  whole  tribe  of  courtiers,  place-hunters  and 
publicans  hated  the  man  who  was  so  austere  a  guar- 
dian of  the  public  purse,  and  who,  while  ruthlessly 
reforming  the  abuses  and  peculations  by  which  they 
trusted  to  become  rich,  himself  amassed  a  colossal 
fortune.  The  lawyers  could  not  pardon  the  disre- 
gard which  Sully  showed  more  than  once  for  the 
authority  and  the  pretensions  of  the  Parliaments. 
Just  or  unjust,  the  King's  will,  he  said,  was  law. 
Men  of  letters  were  estranged  by  the  economy 
which  checked  the  not  too  generous  flow  of  the 
King's  bounty.  All  ^like  were  offended  by  rude  and 
overbearing  manners.  Not  only  was  Sully  obstinate 
in  saying  no,  but  he  never  cared  to  take  the  edge 
off  a  rebuff  by  any  softness  or  flattery  in  word  or 
manner. 

Though  honest,  Rosny  was  not  disinterested  ;  un- 
like Du  Plessis-Mornay,  who  "  put  no  farthing  in  his 
purse  and  acquired  no  inch  of  land,"  he  grew  rich 
in  the  service  of  his  master.  Even  the  war,  to  carry 
on  which  many  Protestant  nobles  mortgaged  their  es- 
tates and  cut  down  their  timber,  was  to  him  a  source 
of  profit.  In  the  escalade  of  La  R6ole,  one  of  his 
earliest  exploits,  he  gained  booty  worth  1,000  crowns  ; 
from  the  sack  of  Cahors  he  carried  off  a  strong-box 
containing  four  times  as  much  ;  when  the  royalists 
stormed  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  he  laid  his 
hands  on  some  3,000  crowns  ;  during  the  siege  of 
Louviers,  on  as  many  more.  As  if  guided  by  some 
unerring  instinct,  he  found  his  way  to  treasure  with- 


124  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

out  the  help  of  any  divining  rod.  It  has  been  re- 
marked, and  with  truth,  that  though  an  excellent 
man  of  business,  Sully  was  no  financial  genius.  He 
looked  upon  the  King's  far-seeing  attempts  to  en- 
courage arts  and  manufactures,  much  as  an  old 
fashioned  and  parsimonious  bailiff  would  regard  his 
master's  costly  experiments  in  scientific  farming. 
But  the  evils  which  he  w-as  called  upon  to  remedy 
were  gross  and  patent.  To  deal  with  them  in  his 
common-sense  fashion,  needed  only  plain  honesty, 
unwearying  industry,  power  of  comprehending 
minute  and  intricate  details,  combined  with  great 
capacity  for  organisation  and  a  most  determined 
and  relentless  persistence.  These  qualities  may  not 
amount  to  genius  ;  but  their  combination  in  such 
perfection  is  rarer  than  any  genius  ;  and  the  man 
who  possessed  them  was  invaluable  to  a  prince  called 
upon  to  rule  a  country  perishing,  not  because  it 
needed  a  revolution  or  the  reconstruction  of  its  in- 
stitutions, but  because  those  which  it  possessed  were 
threatening  ruin  from  neglect,  or  so  choked  and  en- 
cumbered by  abuses  that  they  no  longer  performed 
any  useful  functions.  Nor  are  other  reasons  want- 
ing which  account  for  the  favour  shown  to  Sully  by 
Henry  IV.  He  was  his  faithful  and  constant  com- 
panion in  arms.  At  Coutras,  Arques,  Ivry,  Aumale, 
Rouen,  Amiens,  in  a  hundred  nameless  skirmishes 
he  fought,  "as  headlong,"  said  the  King,  "  as  a  cock- 
chafer," with  a  fiery  valour  surprising  in  a  man  of 
cold  and  calculating  character.  Sully  moreover 
combined  a  courtier's  pliability  with  great  outward 
frankness,  and  even  roughness  of  bearing  in  council. 


1586]       The  P7^otecto7'-  of  the   C J  Lurches.        125 

for  Henry,  who  justly  prided  himself  on  the  patience 
with  which  he  accepted  rebuke,  and  listened  to  un- 
palatable advice,  was  often  flattered  rather  than  irri- 
tated by  contradiction.  He  did  not  refuse  services 
which  the  more  austere  integrity  of  Du  Plessis-Mor- 
nay  declined.  When,  for  instance,  Henry  desired 
to  obtain  possession  of  a  promise  of  marriage  ex- 
changed between  his  hardly  used  sister  Catherine 
and  her  cousin  the  Count  of  Soissons,  Rosny  spared 
no  artifice  or  lie  till  he  had  deceived  the  lovers  into 
entrusting  the  precious  document  to  his  keeping. 
While,  therefore.  Sully,  an  exile  from  power,  found 
solace  and  dignity  in  the  vast  fortune  of  which  the 
foundation  had  been  laid  by  horse-coping  at  the 
Court  of  Pau,  what  other  reward  could  virtue  such 
as  Mornay's  expect  than  to  be  praised  and  starve  ? 

During  the  first  part  of  the  17th  century,  Sully's 
reputation  was  depressed  by  his  personal  unpopu- 
larity ;  during  the  second  half  it  was,  like  that  of  his 
master,  obscured  by  the  rising  sun  of  Lewis  XIV. 
But  the  eclipse  and  darkness  in  which  that  sun  set, 
led  men  to  reflect  on  the  different  course  of  events 
during  the  reign  of  his  grandfather,  when  each  year 
saw  some  increase  in  the  security,  strength  and  pros- 
perity of  the  country.  Moreover,  the  exaggerated 
mercantilism  of  Colbert  provoked  a  violent  reaction, 
and  those  economists  who  held  the  land  to  be  the 
true  source  of  wealth,  extolled  the  wisdom  of  the 
minister  who  had  proclaimed  pastoral  and  arable 
farming  to  be  the  breasts  from  which  the  whole  sus- 
tenance of  the  country  must  be  drawn.  Unlikely 
as  it  may  appear  to  the  reader  of  that  amazing  and 


126  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 


mendacious  compilation  of  pompous  egotism,  Sul- 
ly's Memoirs  have  also  exaggerated  his  posthumous 
fame  ;  historians  have  largely  used  them  as  a  valu- 
able contemporary  authority,  and  have  in  many 
cases,  half  unconsciously,  adopted  the  view  of  his 
actions,  the  estimate  of  his  importance,  which  he 
wished  to  prevail. 

The  Estates,  though  ready  to  vote  resolutions 
urging  the  restoration  of  the  unity  of  the  faith,  ab- 
solutely refused  to  sanction  any  further  alienation 
of  the  Crovm  lands,  or  any  other  way  of  raising  the  re- 
sources necessary  for  a  vigorous  campaign.  They  were 
therefore  dismissed  by  the  King,  who  loudly  expressed 
his  disappointment,  but  probably  was  well  pleased 
at  the  proved  weakness  of  the  party  of  the  League. 
Meantime  hostilities  had  begun  and  were  carried  on 
in  a  desultory  fashion,  though  with  some  vigour  and 
much  ferocity,  to  the  disadvantage  on  the  whole,  of 
the  Huguenots,  who  were  weakened  by  the  defection 
of  Damville,  now  by  his  brother's  death  Duke  of 
Montmorency  and  head  of  his  house.  But  his 
example  was  not  generally  followed  by  the  Catho- 
lics of  his  party,  nor  even  by  his  own  family.  His 
brother  Thore  and  his  cousin  Chatillon,  the  son  of 
Coligny,  were  on  the  point  of  attacking  him  under 
the  walls  of  Montpellier  when  news  came  that  peace 
had  again  been  concluded. 

The  King  of  Navarre,  who  was  not  on  good  terms 
with  his  cousin  Conde,  and  whose  little  Court  was 
distracted  by  the  enmities  between  his  Protestant 
and  Catholic  followers,  listened  readily  to  the  pro. 
posals  of  the  King  and  Queen-Mother  for  a  general 
pacification. 


15861       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        127 

The  Peace  of  Bergerac  (September  17,  1577)  was 
based  on  a  fair  compromise.  Protestant  worship  was 
allowed  in  the  towns  then  held  by  the  confederates, 
and  in  one  town  in  each  bailliagc  and  to  the  nobles 
in  their  houses.  The  Protestants  were  to  be  fairly 
represented  in  the  law  courts.  Eight  cautionary 
fortresses  garrisoned  at  the  King's  expense  were 
to  be  left  in  their  hands  for  six  years.  All  leagues 
and  secret  associations  were  forbidden.  This  set- 
tlement was  gladly  received  by  moderate  men  of 
both  parties  ;  it  was  honestly  meant  by  the  King, 
and  might  have  been  lasting,  but  for  the  turbulent 
ambition  of  the  House  of  Lorraine,  the  intrigues  of 
Philip  II.  and  the  influence  of  events  in  other  parts 
of  Europe. 

If  he  could  not  compel  the  Protestants  to  con- 
form, Henry  III.  wished  to  keep  on  good  terms  with 
them  ;  since  he  and  they  had  the  same  enemies, 
Spain  and  the  Guises.  The  subsequent  infractions 
of  the  edict  of  which  the  Huguenots  loudly  and 
justly  complained,  were  due,  not  so  much  to  the  bad 
faith  of  the  King,  as  to  the  disobedience  of  govern- 
ors who,  like  Montmorency  in  Languedoc,  or  Guise 
in  Burgundy,  acted  as  if  independent  sovereigns, 
and  to  the  fanaticism  of  the  populace  encouraged 
by  the  stubborn  ill-will  of  the  law  courts.  When 
their  own  leade-r  succeeded  to  the  throne,  the  Prot- 
estants found  that  their  position  was  not  bettered, 
and  looked  back  to  the  years  which  followed  the 
Peace  of  Bergerac  as  to  the  time  when  on  the  whole 
their  condition  had  been  most  tolerable  "  for  good 
but  ill,  for  ill  yet  passing  good." 


128  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

The  King  of  Navarre  as  Protector  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  was  zealous  in  calling  the  attention  of  the 
Government  to  their  grievances;  and  not  less  im- 
portunate in  demanding  the  payment  of  his  wife's 
dower,  and  in  protesting  against  the  sequestration 
of  the  revenues  of  his  wide  domains  in  the  north 
and  centre  of  France. 

To  satisfy  his  clamis  and  to  settle  the  points  still 
in  dispute,  Catherine  de'  Medici  accompanied  her 
daughter  to  the  Court  of  Navarre,  rejoicing  in  an 
opportunity  of  diplomatic  intrigue  and  trickery. 
Margaret  of  Valois  was  not  sorry  to  rejoin  her  hus- 
band; she  hated  her  brother  Henry  III.,  and  had 
chosen  her  lovers  from  among  the  favourites  of  the 
Duke  of  Anjou,  between  whom  and  the  King's 
minions  insults,  broils  and  duels  were  of  constant 
occurrence. 

With  the  two  Queens  came  a  bevy  of  ladies, 
among  them  Madame  de  Sauves,  a  woman  who  had 
given  Henry  of  Bourbon  some  early  lessons  in  prof- 
ligacy. It  was  not  without  reason,  that  when  writ- 
ing to  ask  the  Huguenots  to  send  representatives  to 
assist  him  at  the  approaching  conferences  he  also 
bade  them  "  pray  God  to  fortify  him  with  sobriety 
and  prudence,  in  order  that  he  might  withstand  the 
wiles  and  artifices  of  those  who  are  plotting  the  ruin 
of  the  churches." 

Catherine  remained  eighteen  months  with  her 
daugnter  and  son-in-law.  He  fell  in  love  with  one 
of  her  girls,  Cond6  with  another,  the  Viscount  of 
Turenne,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Protestant  nobles, 
devoted  himself  to  the  Queen  of  Navarre.     This  was 


1586]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches,        129 

what  the  Queen-Mother  had  hoped,  her  main  object 
being  to  sow  dissension  between  the  King  of  Na- 
varre, the  Prince  and  Turenne,  and  to  prevent  any 
close  understanding  between  Margaret  and  her  hus- 
band. The  Florentine  was  so  far  successful  that 
Henry  and  his  young  courtiers  yielded  at  once  to 
the  allurements  of  her  "  flying  squadron."  Even  an 
old  and  sober  Calvinist  captain,  a  pillar  of  the  Church, 
was  seduced  by  one  of  these  girls  to  betray  La  R^ole, 
an  important  Huguenot  stronghold.  The  King  of 
Navarre  heard  of  this  treachery  when  entertaining 
the  Queen-Mother  with  a  ball  at  Auch.  He  silently 
slipped  from  the  room,  summoned  a  few  trusty  com- 
panions and  before  morning  escaladed  Fleurance,  a 
small  town  in  the  neighbourhood,  held  by  a  garrison 
of  French  troops.  Catherine  when  she  heard  of  the 
exploit,  only  laughed  :  "  It  is  his  revenge  for  La 
R^ole  ;  cabbage  for  cabbage,  but  mine  has  the  better 
heart." 

The  Queen-Mother  was  disappointed  in  her  hope 
of  profiting  by  the  estrangement  of  her  daughter  and 
son-in-law.  Margaret  even  encouraged  her  husband's 
gallantries  and  taught  him  to  tolerate  her  own. 
Thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  objects  and  methods 
of  her  mother's  policy,  she  gave  him  advice  which 
though  inspired  by  base  motives  was  in  itself  useful. 

Catherine's  negotiations  ended  with  a  promise  of 
further  securities  to  the  Huguenots  and  of  the  com- 
plete redress  of  their  grievances.  The  non-fulfilment 
of  this  promise  was  one  of  the  pretexts  of  a  futile 
.resumption  of  hostilities  by  the  King  of  Navarre  in 
1580 — the  so-called  Lover's  Cour--of  which  LaNoue 

9 


1 30  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti576- 

and  the  most  sober  Protestants  disapproved,  and  in 
which  La  Rochelle  and  other  towns  refused  to  take 
any  part.  The  desultory  campaign  which  followed 
only  deserves  mention  for  an  opportunity  it  gave 
Henry  of  conspicuously  displaying  that  valour,  not 
less  obstinate  than  fiery,  which  so  greatly  impressed 
the  imagination  of  his  countrymen  and  established 
his  influence  and  popularity  among  the  warlike  gen- 
try of  both  religions. 

He  had  never  been  able  to  obtain  possession  of  the 
district  of  Quercy  which  had  been  settled  on  Margaret 
of  Valois  as  her  dower.  The  inhabitants  of  Cahors, 
the  capital  of  Quercy,  had  been  notorious  usurers 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  town  was  still  pros- 
perous and  wealthy.  Defended  by  strong  walls,  by 
a  garrison  of  1,500  men,  under  a  brave  and  trust- 
worthy governor  and  still  more  by  its  position,  for 
the  narrow  and  steep  streets  wind  up  to  the  summit 
of  a  bold  rock  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  bend 
of  the  river  Lot,  Cahors  appeared  to  defy  any  sudden 
assault. 

Henry,  who  was  at  Montauban,  marched  thirty 
miles  under  a  scorching  summer  sun  with  a  force  not 
more  numerous  than  the  garrison  ;  and  at  nightfall 
approached  Cahors  under  cover  of  the  thick  groves 
of  walnut  trees  which  grew  close  to  where  the  road 
from  Montauban  entered  the  town  by  a  bridge  de- 
fended by  two  gates  and  other  outworks.  A  heavy 
storm  favoured  the  surprise.  Even  the  explosion  of 
the  petards  by  which  the  gates  were  blown  in  was 
mistaken  by  many  for  a  peal  of  thunder.  But  it 
was  after  ihey  had  penetrated  into  the  town  that  the 


1586]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.       131 

assailants  realised  the  full  difficulty  of  their  enterprise. 
The  garrison  was  zealously  assisted  by  the  towns- 
people, fanatical  Catholics,  who  feared  the  punish- 
ment of  atrocities  perpetrated  on  Huguenot  fellow- 
citizens.  Every  house  was  a  fortress,  every  steep 
and  narrow  street  a  barricaded  and  well  defended 
pass.  For  five  days  and  nights  the  conflict  was  con- 
tinued, amid  an  indescribable  scene  of  uproar  and 
confusion — ^clash  of  swords,  clanging  of  bells,  volleys 
of  firearms,  roar  of  burning  houses,  shouts  of  fight- 
ing  men  and  shrieks  of  women  and  children.  Spent 
with  blows,  worn  out  with  want  of  sleep,  their 
armour  battered,  their  feet  sore  and  bleeding,  almost 
all  wounded  or  bruised  by  missiles  thrown  from  the 
housetops,  those  around  Henry  urged  him  whilst 
there  was  yet  time  to  retire  from  so  unequal  a  con- 
test ;  especially  since  they  were  not  sufficiently 
■numerous  to  occupy  the  gates  and  to  prevent  rein- 
forcements reaching  the  garrison.  But  he  obstinate- 
ly refused,  and  at  length  his  perseverence  overcame 
the  resolution  of  his  opponents  and  the  sack  of  the 
town  rewarded  the  constancy  of  his  followers. 

The  capture  ofCahors  spread  dismay  among  the 
Catholic  towns  of  the  South.  Toulouse  already  saw 
before  her  gates  the  avenger  of  the  innocent  blood 
so  often  shed  in  her  streets. 

Henceforward  none  were  disposed  to  laugh  at 
Henry  of  Bourbon  ;  but  the  establishment  beyond 
all  cavil  of  his  reputation  as  a  fearless  and  adven- 
turous soldier  was  all  that  he  gained  by  his  brilliant 
feat  of  arms.  The  Huguenots,  even  had  they  been 
more  unanimous  would  have    been    no    match    for 


132  Henry  of  Navarre.  [t576- 

three  powerful  armies  sent  against  them  by  the 
King.  That  Henry  III.  consented  to  treat,  and  that 
the  conferences  held  at  Fleix  in  P^rigord  were  fol- 
lowed by  a  treaty  confirming  all  previous  concessions 
to  the  Reformers  and  to  their  leader,  seems  some 
proof  that  the  King  was  sincerely  desirous  of  peace. 
No  doubt  also  the  exhaustion  of  his  finances,  the 
ravages  of  a  virulent  epidemic,  which  is  said  to  have 
carried  off  30,000  victims  in  Paris  alone,  the  renewed 
intrigues  of  Spain  and  the  importunity  of  his 
brother  and  mother,  again  absorbed  by  ambitious 
projects  in  the  Low  Countries,  inclined  him  to  mod- 
eration. 

Henry  HI.  succeeded  in  putting  an  end  to  the 
civil  strife  which  desolated  his  kingdom,  but  he 
failed  to  use  the  respite  which  he  obtained  so  as  to 
guard  against  future  troubles.  L'Estoile  certainly 
exaggerates  when  he  complains  that  nothing  could 
have  been  more  perverse  and  monstrous  than  the 
government ;  that  the  care  of  the  finances  was  en- 
trusted to  the  greatest  knaves,  of  the  army  to  the 
greatest  cowards,  of  the  provinces  to  the  greatest 
fools.  But  his  testimony  is  valuable- because  it  shows 
how  completely  Henry  HI.  failed  to  secure  the  con- 
fidence of  that  moderate  party  on  whose  support  his 
strength  depended,  and  whose  opinions  are  faithfully 
reflected  by  the  Parisian  diarist. 

An  edict  embodying  many  useful  reforms  was 
published  in  1580.  The  remark  of  the  same  writer 
that  this,  like  all  others  of  the  kind,  might  have 
been  endorsed,  "  Good  only  for  three  days,"  is 
borne  out  by  the  preamble  to  another  ordinance  of 


1586]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        133 

1583,  which  complains  that  licence,  disorder  and 
confusion  have  so  grown,  that  hardly  a  trace  of  old- 
fashioned  integrity  remains. 

While  the  reputation  of  the  King  of  France  was 
sinking,  the  King  of  Navarre  was  rising  in  public 
estimation.  No  doubt  there  were  vices  and  follies, 
intrigues  and  factions  enough  and  to  spare  at  the 
little  Court  of  Nerac  or  Pau,  where,  says  Aubigne, 
"  we  were  all  lovers  together,"  and  where  the  preten- 
tious solemnity  of  Sully  owns'that  in  the  soft  south- 
ern nights  and  under  the  pleasant  shade  of  garden 
walks  planted  with  bay  and  cypress  by  Margaret  of 
Angouleme,  the  only  converse  among  courtiers  and 
ladies  was  of  love  and  of  the  delights  to  which  it 
leads. 

"  Our  Court,"  Queen  Margaret  boasts  in  hev 
memoirs,  "  was  so  fair  and  agreeable  that  we  did  not 
envy  that  of  France.  ...  I  had  around  me 
many  ladies  and  maids  in  waiting,  and  the  King 
my  husband  was  attended  by  a  gallant  following  of 
lords  and  gentlemen  ...  in  whom  there  was 
no  fault  to  be  found  except  that  they  were  Hugue- 
nots." If  Margaret  could  find  no  fault  in  her  hus- 
band's courtiers  except  their  religion,  we  may  be 
certain  that  religion  sat  but  lightly  on  them. 

The  negotiation  of  the  Peace  of  Fleix  was  the  pre- 
text of  a  visit  of  several  months  paid  by  the  Duke 
of  Anjou  with  his  train  of  rou^s  and  bravos  to  his 
brother-in-law  and  sister.  Anjou,  who  had  a  monkey, 
like  aptitude  for  mischief  annoying  to  others  though 
profitless  to  himself,  succeeded  in  destroying  the 
good    understanding    based    on    mutual    toleration 


134  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti576- 

which  had  so  far  existed  between  the  King  and 
Queen  of  Navarre.  It  must  also  be  allowed  that 
Henry  showed  a  cynical  indelicacy  in  the  demands 
he  made  on  his  wife's  complaisance. 

In  1 581  Margaret  left  her  husband's  Court,  on  the 
pretext  of  a  visit  to  her  mother,  whose  tenderness 
could  no  longer  endure  so  protracted  a  separation. 

Aubigne  contrasts  the  virtue  of  the  Court  of  Na- 
varre with  the  licence  of  that  of  France.  There  the 
greatest  were  proud  to  minister  to  the  King's  foulest 
pleasures  ;  at  Pau,  Henry's  mistress,  the  Countess  of 
Grammont,  was  neglected.  Yet  some  credit  is  due 
to  this  lady,  if,  after  his  wife  had  left  him,  the  King's 
life  became  more  decorous.  She  is  popularly  known 
as  the  mistress  to  whom  he  sacrificed  the  fruits  of  the 
victory  of  Coutras.  Yet  it  is  possible  that  without 
her  Coutras  might  neither  have  been  fought  nor  won. 
Diana,  or,  as  she  was  commonly  called,  Corisande 
d'Andouins,  widow  of  Philibert  de  Guiche,  Count  of 
Grammont,  was  a  year  or  two  older  than  her  royal 
lover.  Of  the  three  women  who  so  influenced  his  life 
that  it  is  impossible  to  pass  them  by  in  silence,  the 
Countess  of  Grammont  was  the  most  respectable. 
She  stimulated  the  ambition  of  Henry,  assisted  him 
with  her  fortune,  and  shared  his  councils,  nor,  though 
a  Catholic,  disliked  and  suspected  by  the  Protestants, 
has  her  fidelity  been  seriously  impugned.  Her  posi- 
tion, that  of  a  widow  who  had  formed  a  lasting  con- 
nection with  a  prince  separated  from  his  wife,  was 
not  one  which  in  those  days  appeared  other  than 
honourable,  nor  did  the  King  scruple  to  entrust  his 
sister  Catherine  to  her  care. 


1986]       The  Protector  of  the   Churches.        135 

Henry  was  always  anxious  to  marry  his  mistress 
for  the  time  being,  a  proof  that  the  reiterated  and 
passionate  protestations  of  constancy  in  which  his 
letters  abound,  were  not  wholly  insincere.  Tossed 
by  fate,  ever  in  the  saddle,  not  less  restless  by  choice 
in  his  amusements  than  by  necessity  in  the  business 
of  life,  he  had  a  strong  yearning  for  the  quiet  joys 
and  repose  of  home. 

Aubigne  tells  us  that  his  master  charged  him  on 
his  allegiance  to  give  him  true  advice ;  and  then, 
after  citing  thirty  instances  of  princes  who  had  mar- 
ried subjects,  said  that  he  had  promised  his  hand  to 
the  Countess  of  Grammont  in  case  he  should,  as  he 
hoped,  obtain  a  divorce  from  Margaret.  If  we  may 
believe  the  garrulous  vanity  of  the  Huguenot  his- 
torian's old  age,  he  replied  that  his  master,  must 
remember  that  he  had  three  parts  to  play,  as  King 
of  Navarre,  as  heir  to  the  Crown  of  France,  as  Pro- 
tector of  the  Churches,  that  in  each  character  he  was 
served  by  a  different  set  of  followers,  who  expected 
a  different  payment.  The  servants  of  the  King  of 
Navarre  and  of  the  Dauphin  of  France  looked  for 
honours  and  temporal  rewards,  either  in  the  present 
or  the  future  ;  the  wages  of  those  who  followed  the 
Protector  of  the  Churches  were  less  easily  paid  by  a 
prince,  for  if  in  some  things  they  were  his  servants, 
in  others  they  were  his  fellows  and  for  sharing  his 
dangers  they  asked  to  be  repaid  by  his  zeal,  by  his 
noble  actions,  his  virtues.  Aubign6  did  not  suppose, 
so  he  continued,  that  hating  books  as  he  did,  the 
King  had  himself  collected  the  mischievous  examples 
he  alleged,  but  he  must  remember  how  very  different 


136  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

the  position  of  those  princes  had  been  from  his  own. 
He  need  not  give  up  his  love — this  concession  from 
a  sincere  Calvinist  is  notable — but  let  him  serve  and 
honour  his  mistress  by  living  worthily. 

During  the  long  visit  paid  by  Margaret  after  1581 
to  the  French  Court,  the  emnity  between  her  and 
Henry  HI.  increased.  Provoked  by  her  intrigues 
and  her  malice,  the  King  avenged  himself  by  pub- 
lishing and  exaggerating  the  scandals  of  her  life. 
He  came  up  to  her  at  a  ball  in  the  Louvre  and  with 
loud  anger  enumerated  her  lovers  and  dalliances, 
reproached  her  with  the  birth  of  a  bastard  child,  and 
bade  her  rejoin  her  husband  ;  she  might  live  more 
decently  with  him,  than  where  her  presence  was 
both  scandalous  and  mischievous.  After  so  intoler- 
able an  affront  the  Queen  of  Navarre  hurried  from 
Paris,  exclaiming  that  she  and  Mary  of  Scots  were 
the  most  wretched  among  women,  that  she  wished 
some  one  would  end  her  miserable  life  ;  but  such  for- 
tune was  too  good  for  her,  she  had  neither  friends 
nor  enemies.  Her  husband  refused  to  receive  her. 
If  the  charges  made  against  her  were  true  she  was 
not  fit  to  be  his  wife,  if  they  were  false  his  honour 
required  that  her  brother  should  w^ithdraw  and  apolo- 
gise for  calumnies  so  atrocious,  for  an  insult  so 
humiliating.  Aubign^,  and  then,  with  further  pow- 
ers, Du  Plessis-Mornay,  were  sent  to  remonstrate 
with  Henry  HI.  on  the  want  of  consideration  he  had 
shown  for  their  master's  honour.  Apparently, 
Henry  HI.  repented  of  his  haste.  He  made  a  half 
apology,  he  begged  his  brother-in-law  not  to  take 
the  matter  too  much  to   heart.     The  most  virtuous 


1586]         The  Protector  of  the  Churches.         137 

princesses  were  subject  to  such  calumnies ;  he  re- 
minded him  of  old  scandals  which  had  been  current 
even  about  his  mother  the  pious  Jane  of  Albret. 
"  His  Majesty,"  laughed  the  Bearnese,  "  does  me  too 

much  honour;  he  tells  me   I  am  a ,  by  way  of 

excuse  for  calling  my  wife  a  wh — ." 

But  neither  Prince  wished  to  quarrel ;  Navarre 
expressed  some  willingness  to  receive  his  wife  back, 
if  only  the  royal  garrisons  were  withdrawn  from  his 
frontiers,  so  that  he  might  not  appear  to  be  acting 
under  compulsion,  and  he  claimed  credit  for  rejecting 
the  large  offers  made  by  Philip  II.— the  hand  of  the 
Infanta  Isabella,  after  Spanish  influence  at  the  Vati- 
can should  have  o-btained  for  him  a  divorce  from  his 
dishonoured  wife,  and  powerful  assistance  in  money 
and  men  against  all  enemies  if  only  he  would  abjure 
his  heresy.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  Philip  II. 
was  sincere  in  making  these  advances.  He  was  discon- 
tented with  the  conduct  of  the  Guises  and  eager  to 
aveng-e  himself  for  the  interference  of  France  in  the 
Low  Countries. 

Henry  III.  expressed  his  gratitude  to  his  brother- 
in-law,  sanctioned  the  continued  occupation  by  the 
Protestants  of  their  places  of  security ;  and!  when  the 
uncertainty  of  the  succession  in  the  event  of  Anjou's 
death  was  mentioned,  showed  surprise  that  the  mat- 
ter should  be  discussed  as  if  open  to  question.  The 
King  of  Navarre,  a  prince  of  exalted  birth  and  good 
parts,  whom  he  loved,  was  his  natural  heir.  "  I 
know,"  he  said  to  the  Provost  of  Paris,  "  that  some 
are  trying  to  supplant  him,  but  I  shall  take  good 
care  to  prevent  them   from  succeeding";  as  for  the 


138  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

Cardinal  of  Bourbon  who  hoped  to  step  into  his 
nephew's  shoes,  he  was  an  old  fool.  When  Anjou 
was  dying  (May,  1584),  Epernon  was  sent  with  a 
sumptuous  retinue  to  invite  the  King  of  Navarre  to 
come  to  Court  to  take  his  place  as  heir-apparent — 
after  first  hearing  a  Mass.  The  Catholics  about  him 
had  for  some  time  been  urging  him  to  remove  by  his 
conversion  the  only  obstacle  to  his  universal  recog- 
nition as  heir  to  the  French  throne. 

Menry  reminded  his  cousin,  the  young  Cardinal  of 
Vendome,  that  a  man's  religion,  could  not  be  put  off 
and  on  like  his  shirt.  However  lightly  he  held  by 
his  creed  he  may  well  have  thought  that  there  was 
as  much  to  be  lost  as  gained  by  sacrificing  it  at  this 
moment.] 

Epernon  was  therefore  answered  with  protestations 
of  gratitude  and  loyalty — of  readiness  to  receive 
instruction  or  to  submit  to  the  decision  of  a  free  and 
universal  council ;  but  the  King  of  Navarre  showed 
no  eagerness  to  accept  the  invitation  to  Court,  and 
still  less  to  go  straightway  to  Mass. 

Yet  the  fact  that  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne 
was  a  heretic  made  the  renewal  of  the  civil  war  in- 
evitable. Even  if  all  the  means  which  the  gold  of 
Spain,  the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  ambition 
of  the  Guises  could  set  in  motion  or  suggest  to  excite 
the  alarm  and  stimulate  the  fanaticism  of  the  popu- 
lace had  not  been  employed,  it  is  not  likely  that  the 
Catholic  majority  would  quietly  have  submitted  to 
the  rule  of  a  Calvinist  king.  In  England  and  else- 
where they  had  seen  the  religion  of  the  country  fol- 
low the  creed  of  the  prince.     The   intimate  connec- 


1586]         The  Protector  of  the  Churches.  139 

tion  of  the  State  and  of  the  orthodox  Church  was 
held  to  be  a  fundamental  law  of  the  monarchy. 
Even  moderate  men,  who  were  willing  that  the 
Huguenots  should  be  tolerated,  were  alarmed  at  the 
prospect  of  their  domination. 

These  feelings  were  shared  by  Henry  HI.  Though 
it  had  little  influence  on  his  life,  he  was  more  sin- 
cerely attached  to  his  religion  than  Henry  of  Guise, 
or  Henry  of  Bourbon  ;  for  the  former  was  suspected 
by  those  who  knew  him  best  to  be  a  Lutheran  at 
heart,  and  the  latter,  like  James  I.  of  England, 
believed  that  faith  in  God  is  suf^cient  to  save  a  man 
let  him  belong  to  what  sect  he  may  ;  although  there 
is  no  reason  to  doubt,  that,  as  he  told  the  historian 
De  Thou  five  years  later,  he  held  the  one  in  which  he 
had  been  bred  to  be  the  truest  and  the  best. 

A  rapid  glance  at  the  condition  of  the  general 
conflict  between  Protestantism  and  Catholicism  will 
explain  the  impatience  with  which  Philip  H.  and 
his  clerical  allies  saw  France  gradually  settling  down 
into  something  like  tranquillity.  In  England,  the  plots 
for  assassinating  the  queen,  although  approved  by 
the  Pope  and  encouraged  by  the  promise  of  Spanish 
gold  and  honours,  had  failed,  as  well  as  the  schemes 
of  domestic  rebellion  and  foreign  invasion  organised 
by  the  Spanish  ambassador  against  the  sovereign  to 
whom  he  was  accredited  ;  and  the  abrupt  expulsion 
of  Don  Bernardino  de  Mendoza  made  it  clear  that 
open  war  between  the  two  countries  could  not  much 
longer  be  avoided. 

In  the  Low  Countries  there  seemed  little  hope 
that    without  foreign    help  tlie   exhaustion    of    the 


140  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

States  would  be  able  to  resist  the  skill  and  energy 
of  Alexander  Farnese  ;  even  before  the  murder  of 
Orange,  an  English  envoy  had  reported  "  that  the 
cause  was  panting  and  all  but  dead."  Dendermonde 
and  Ghent  had  opened  their  gates  to  the  Spanish 
troops  already  closing  round  Antwerp.  In  Germany 
the  conversion  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  would, 
if  he  could  maintain  himself,  give  a  majority  in  the 
Electoral  College  to  the  Reformers  ;  but  in  the  South 
the  Catholic  reaction  was  making  rapid  progress, 
supported  by  the  Emperor  Rudolf,  who  had  been 
educated  at  the  Court  of  Spain,  and  who  resembled 
in  nothing  his  wise  and  tolerant  father  Maximilian  II. 

An  eminent  English  historian  believes  that  after 
the  death  of  Orange,  Henry  III.,  could  he  have 
trusted  Elizabeth,  was  willing  to  defy  Spain  and  the 
League,  to  place  Henry  of  Navarre  at  the  head  of 
his  army  and  in  close  alliance  with  England,  to  fall 
with  all  his  forces  on  the  Duke  of  Parma.  He  would 
thus  have  secured  the  active  co-operation  of  the  King 
of  Denmark  and  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Cologne  would  have  been  maintained  in 
his  electorate,  and  at  the  next  vacancy  the  Imperial 
crown  might  have  passed  from  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg. 

We  must  doubt  whether  even  if  he  had  been  will- 
ing to  break  so  completely  with  his  past,  to  overcome 
his  own  prejudices  and  predilections,  Henry  HI. 
could  have  taken  up  and  carried  out  on  a  bolder 
scale  the  policy  of  Coligny.  Not  the  Guises  only, 
but  his  mother,  his  favourites,  the  ambitious  Eper- 
non  not  less  than  the  Catholic  Joyeuse,  would  have 


1586]         The  Protector  of  the  Churches.  141 

resisted  to  the  uttermost,  strong  in  the  support  of 
populace  and  church,  a  course  of  action  which  would 
have  thrown  all  power  into  the  hands  of  the  heretic 
heir  and  his  followers.  Yet  there  was  much  in  the 
conduct  of  the  King  well  calculated  to  excite  the 
alarm  of  the  Catholic  and  Spanish  party.  After  the 
death  of  his  brother  he  publicly  recognised  the  King 
of  Navarre  as  his  successor,  and  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  bestowing  upon  him  the  duchy  of  Alen^on, 
which  had  lapsed  to  the  crown.  An  embassy  bring- 
ing from  Elizabeth  the  insignia  of  the  Garter  was 
received  with  the  utmost  cordiality  and  magnificence, 
and  the  King  showed  himself  in  public  wearing  the 
badge  sent  by  an  excommunicated  heretic.  The 
envoys  who  came  to  offer  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Low  Countries  obtained,  it  is  true,  little  but  gold 
chains  and  fair  words,  yet  the  Austrian  Resident 
assured  his  master  that  the  active  intervention  of 
France  was  daily  expected. 

Parma,  who  dreaded  a  diversion  which  might 
compel  him  to  raise  the  siege  of  Antwerp,  joined 
with  Mendoza  in  urging  the  League  and  the  Guises 
to  action.  On  January  15,  1585,  a  formal  treaty  was 
signed  at  Joinville  by  the  Dukes  of  Guise  and  May- 
enne  in  their  own  name  and  that  of  their  family,  by 
a  representative  of  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon  and  by 
the  Spanish  agents  Tassis  and  Moreo.  Since  no 
heretic  might  ascend  the  French  throne,  it  was  agreed 
that  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  Henry  IIL,  the 
Cardinal  of  Bourbon  should  be  proclaimed  king. 
The  contracting  parties  bound  themselves  to  do  their 
utmost  to  extirpate  heresy,  both  in    France  and  in 


; 


142  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

the  Low  Countries.  The  King  of  Spain  promised  a 
subvention  of  1,000,000  crowns  for  the  first  year,  in 
return  for  which  the  French  princes  undertook  to 
place  him  in  possession  of  Cambray,  to  prevent 
French  privateers  from  preying  on  Spanish  com- 
merce, to  hand  over  to  him  Don  Antonio,  the  pre- 
tender to  the  Portuguese  Crown,  who  had  found  a 
refuge  in  France,  and  to  renounce  all  further  alliance 
with  the  Turks. 

The  Guises  had  now  secured  the  co-operation  of 
Spain  by  a  formal  document ;  the  preparations  of 
their  party  at  home  were  also  well  advanced.  The 
weakness  of  the  League  at  the  time  of  the  States- 
General  of  1576-77  had  been  conspicuous  and  unex- 
pected. It  was  not  till  after  the  death  of  Alengon, 
when  the  thought  that  the  heir-apparent  of  the 
crown  was  a  heretic  thrilled  Catholic  France  with 
horror,  that  it  again  started  into  new  and  vigorous 
life,  and  received  that  form  and  organisation  which 
identified  it  with  popular  passions  and  aspirations, 
as  well  as  with  feudal  and  dynastic  ambition,  and 
which  enabled  it  in  close  alliance  with  Spain  to  bring 
France  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin. 
V  Paris  was  the  heart  of  this  organisation.  The 
capital  was  divided  into  five  districts  under  five 
leaders,  who  with  eleven  others  formed  the  supreme 
council,  the  notorious  Sixteen.  These  men  were  for 
the  most  part  lawyers  and  tradesmen  of  middling 
condition,  but  distinguished  for  fanatical  zeal  and 
party  spirit,  well  suited  to  be  the  instruments  of 
cooler  and,  if  not  more  scrupulous,  yet  higher  placed 
and  more  cautious  ambition.     The  parish  clergy,  the 


1586]         The  Protector  of  the   Churches.  143 

friars  and  the  Jesuits  vied  in  the  violence  of  their 
sermons.  Terror  and  pity  were  aHke  employed  to 
excite  the  mob.  A  hundred  pulpits  re-echoed  with 
the  legend  of  the  virtues  and  sufferings  of  the  sainted 
Queen  of  Scots,  whose  charms  and  innocence  v/ere 
in  the  eyes  of  her  votaries  beyond  the  reach  of 
calumny  and  years.  Great  pictures  were  exposed  in 
the  cemeteries  and  public  places,  exhibiting  the  tor- 
tures inflicted  on  Catholic  martyrs  by  the  English 
Jezebel,  the  close  ally  of  the  Most  Christian  King, 
under  whose  heretic  heir  the  faithful  in  France  must 
expect  the  like  treatment.  Nay,  they  need  not  hope 
for  so  long  a  respite  ;  ten  thousand  armed  Hugue- 
nots, it  was  confidently  reported,  were  already  lurk- 
ing in  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  awaiting  a  signal 
to  massacre  the  Christian  people  of  Paris.  To  guard 
against  such  dangers,  the  council  of  the  League  were 
diligent  in  buying  arms  and  in  drilling  the  stoutest 
of  their  adherents. 

Encouraged  by  the  approbation  of  the  Pope,  the 
confederates  published  their  manifesto  (March  30, 
1585).  They  declared  that  they  were  prepared  to 
draw  the  sword  to  restore  the  dignity  and  unity  of 
the  Church,  to  secure  to  the  nobility  their  ancient 
privileges,  to  relieve  the  people  from  all  new  taxes 
imposed  since  the  reign  of  Charles  IX.,  to  drive 
unworthy  favourites  and  advisers  from  Court,  to 
prevent  future  troubles  by  settling  the  succession, 
and  to  provide  for  regular  meetings  of  the  States- 
General.  Until  they  should  have  attained  these 
objects,  they,  princes  of  the  blood,  cardinals,  and 
other  princes,  peers,  prelates,  ofificers  of  the  Crown, 


144  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576- 

governors  of  provinces,  lords  and  gentlemen,  together 
with  sundry  good  towns  and  corporations,  constitut- 
ing the  best  and  soundest  part  of  the  realm,  swore 
to  hold  together  and  persevere  "  until  they  should 
be  heaped  one  upon  another  in  the  tomb  reserved 
for  the  last  Frenchmen  fallen  in  the  service  of  their 
God  and  country."  Then  followed  a  list  of  the 
leaders,  the  Cardinal  Charles  of  Bourbon,  "  first 
Prince  of  the  Blood,"  the  Dukes  of  Lorraine  and 
Guise,  "lieutenant  generals  of  the  League,"  and 
the  names  of  the  Xing  of  Spain  and  other  Catholic 
sovereigns. 

The  King  seemed  at  first  disposed  to  resent  this 
bold  defiance  of  his  authority.  Epernon,  never 
wanting  in  audacity,  and  who  had  devoted  some  of 
the  money  lavished  upon  him  to  secure  the  services 
of  a  considerable  body  of  mercenaries,  urged  him  to 
lose  no  moment  in  replying  to  so  insolent  a  challenge. 
Montmorency  the  governor,  or  rather  sovereign,  of 
Languedoc,  was  to  be  surely  counted  upon  in  a 
struggle  against  Lorraine  and  Spain,  and  would  be 
followed  by  the  moderate  party.  For  every  man 
whom  his  enemies  could  hope  to  enlist  among  the 
Swiss,  two  would  hasten  to  the  standard  of  the  King 
of  France.  Nor  was  it  likely  that  the  majority  of 
the  smaller  nobles,  the  country  gentry,  who  had 
little  to  gain  by  the  substitution  of  the  nearer,  more 
invidious  and  oppressive  authority  of  a  feudal  ruler 
for  that  of  the  Crown,  would  forget  their  hereditary 
loyalty  any  more  than  that  the  lawyers  would  aid  to 
overthrow  the  monarchy  on  which  their  own  import- 
ance depended.     As  for  the   Huguenot   gentry  and 


1586]         The  Protector  of  the   Churches.  145 

towns,  the  King  of  Navarre  was  urgent  in  pressing 
their  services  and  that  of  his  own  small  but  excellent 
army  on  the  King.  But  Henry  III.,  ever  undecided, 
averse  to  strenuous  action  and  preferring  middle 
courses  and  the  chances  of  diplomacy  to  war,  closed 
his  ears  to  bolder  councils  and  allowed  himself  to  be 
influenced  by  Joyeuse's  Catholic  fervour  and  jealousy 
of  Epernon  and  by  the  advice  of  his  mother,  who, 
undeterred  by  gout,  rheums  and  unwieldy  bulk, 
hurried  from  Paris  to  negotiate  with  the  Guises. 
Catherine  had  not  become  less  pusillanimous  with 
age,  and  it  had  ever  been  her  way  to  bend  before 
those  who  were  in  the  ascendant,  yielding  everything 
with  the  comfortable  determination  to  break  her 
word  as  soon  as  it  should  be  safe  to  do  so.  But  on 
this  occasion,  she  was  at  heart  a  traitor  to  her 
favourite  son. 

Like  the  rest  of  the  world,  she  appears  to  have 
made  up  her  mind  that  the  King  must  soon  die,  and 
she  had  already  survived  so  many  of  her  children, 
that  it  seemed  to  her  a  matter  of  course  that  she 
should  survive  him.  But  to  lose  her  power  was  un- 
endurable, worse  to  see  it  pass  into  the  hands  of 
Navarre.  The  old  Cardinal  of  Bourbon  was  a  nonen- 
tity, a  wine  tun  rather  than  a  man,  as  Beza  said,  and 
after  his  death  Catherine  hoped  to  secure  the  crown 
for  her  daughter  Claude,  the  wife  of  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  a  prince  of  weak  character,  whom  she 
would  easily  control.  Thus  the  Florentine,  as  if 
immortal,  spun  her  schemes  with  characteristic  inca- 
pacity to  distinguish  between  what  was  and  was  not 
possible.      Easily  alarmed  by  present  difficulties,  she 


146  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1576 

allowed  her  hopes  to  blind  her  to  those  still  future. 

Yet  it  was  easy  to  foresee  that  the  Guises  would  work 

for  their  own  aggrandisement  and  not  for  that  of  the 

elder  branch  of  their  house  ;  and  that  if  the  Salic  law 

^        was  to  be  violated,  Philip  II.  would  not  allow  the 

\       superior  claims  of  the  Infanta  Isabella,  the  daughter 

y     of  Claude's  elder  sister,  to  be  passed  over. 

^        After  negotiations  which  lasted  two  months  the 

League  presented  an  ultimatum.     The  King  must 

enforce  unity  of  religion  by  an  edict,  which  all  the 

princes,  peers  and  parliaments,  officers  of  the  Crown, 

governors  of  provinces  and  towns  and  other  officials 

should  swear  to  observe. 

Henry  III.  still  hesitated.  He  had  written  to  the 
King  of  Navarre,  warning  him  to  be  on  his  guard, 
and  adding  that  he  was  glad  to  hear  that  he  was  on 
good  terms  with  the  Duke  of  Montmorency.  He 
had  not  himself  been  able  to  prevent  the  evil  designs 
of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  but  at  any  rate  he  would  not 
conclude  any  treaty  with  the  League  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  his  lawful  successor.  The  Queen  of  Eng- 
land wrote  a  letter  to  the  King  of  France,  the  vigor- 
ous style  of  which  so  pleased  Henry  of  Bourbon  that 
he  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  his  Corisande.  "  If  you  could 
know,  my  dear  brother,  the  pain  and  grief  I  feel  at 
the  danger  to  which  you  expose  yourself,  I  am 
assured  that  you  would  believe  that  there  is  no 
creature  in  this  world  on  whose  help  you  can  more 
surely  rely  than  myself.  Good  God  !  is  it  possible 
that  a  great  king  can  bend  himself  without  reason 
and  against  his  honour  to  sue  for  peace  to  rebels  and 
traitors,  and  not  at  once  cut  off  from  them  all  oppor- 


^^^^^^^^H^^H^> -*              *^-^^i^^^^k 

B^^Hhb^     '-jg.uf<\  ^S^K^Ml 

^^RiH^^^^^BL  J'^            'Jin' 

^^ 

H^^^^^Hfl^^HB^^BBHl^^  °^ 

1 

|^^^^^Hn^^^^^^^^^Hn9H|^H^H^^^^^^|^^^^^H^V^^^^^2P 

i^^F^ 

CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICl. 


1586]         The  Protector  of  the   Churches.         147 

tunity  of  exalting  themselves,  compelling  them  by  his 
royal  power  to  submit  to  the  yoke  of  their  deserts. 
I  marvel  to  see  you  thus  betrayed  in  your  council 
and  even  by  her,  who  of  all  the  world  is  nearest  to 
you,  and  that  you  should  be  so  blind  as  to  tolerate 
such  villany  .  .  .  Alas  !  think  you  that  that  cloke  of 
religion  in  which  they  wrap  themselves  is  so  well 
lined  that  their  hope  of  ruling  France  in  your  name 
but  at  their  own  discretion,  cannot  be  seen  through 
it  ?  And  I  pray  God  that  that  may  content  them, 
for  Princes  held  in  subjection  by  their  subjects  are 
rarely  long  lived."  Let  him  only,  she  goes  on  to  say, 
pluck  up  heart  and  if  he  will  accept  her  help  they 
will  soon  put  his  enemies  to  greater  shame  than  ever 
rebels  felt.  If  he  manfully  took  his  own  part,  his 
loyal  subjects  w^ould  come  to  his  assistance;  she  ended 
by  praying  God  to  help  him  and  to  raise  his  courage. 
Brave  words  and  at  the  time  perhaps  honestly  meant, 
for  Elizabeth  could  not  but  feel  that  the  victory  of 
the  League  and  Spain  in  France,  now,  when  Parma 
was  triumphant  in  the  Low  Countries,  would  be 
the  certain  prelude  to  her  own  overthrow.  But 
Henry  IIL  knew,  none  better,  how  little  the  acts  and 
words  of  the  Queen  of  England  were  apt  to  cor- 
respond ;  how  often  the  shortest  performance  would 
follow  her  largest  promises. 

In  any  case,  Elizabeth  and  Navarre  were  far  away, 
the  Queen-Mother  was  at  his  ear  and  her  creatures, 
who  formed  the  majority  in  the  royal  council,  played 
upon  the  fearsof  the  King,  exaggerating  the  strength 
of  the  League,  the  dangerous  discontent  of  the  Pa- 
risians.    The  rebels  already  held  many  of  the  most 


) 


V 


148  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1586 

important  towns  and  fortresses.  "  The  penitential 
sackcloth  of  the  King,"  writes  a  contemporary, 
"  was  not  of  proof  like  the  cuirasses  of  the  League, 
they  had  already  mounted  their  horses  and  he 
was  on  foot."  On  July  5th  (1586)  their  demands 
were  granted  in  the  King's  name  by  Catherine 
de'  Medici. 

On  July  i8th  the  King  summoned  the  Parliament 
of  Paris  and  caused  the  revocation  of  the  Edicts  of 
Toleration  to  be  read  and  entered  upon  the  rolls  in 
his  presence.  Turning  to  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon 
who  accompanied  him,  he  said  :  "  Against  my  con- 
science, but  very  willingly,  I  came  here  on  a  pre- 
vious occasion  to  seek  the  relief  of  my  people  by 
the  proclamation  of  that  Edict  of  Toleration  which 
I  have  now  come  to  revoke,  in  accordance,  it  is  true, 
with  my  conscience,  but  most  unwillingly,  since  from 
this  act  will  follow  the  ruin  of  my  realm  and  of  my 
people." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   THREE    HENRYS. 
I585-I589. 


was  useless,  now  that  the  forces  of 
the  Government  and  of  the  League 
were  united  to  bring  about  the  ex- 
tirpation of  heresy  and  the  triumph 
of  Spain,  for  the  King  to  attempt  to 
disclaim  responsibility  and  to  wash 
his  hands  of  the  blood  that  was  about  to  be  shed. 
We  are  told  that  when  the  King  of  Navarre  heard 
of  the  treaty  between  Henry  III.  and  the  League, 
pondering  long  and  deeply,  his  chin  resting  on  his 
hand,  the  half  of  his  beard  on  which  he  leant  turned 
white,  so  great  was  his  apprehension  of  the  evil  times 
which  he  foresaw.  The  prospects  of  the  struggle 
were  indeed  unfavourable  to  the  Huguenots.  Their 
numbers  which  had  decreased  after  the  Massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  had  again  grown  since  the  Peace 
of  Bergerac ;  but  they  had  lost  much  of  their 
old  unanimity,  and  the  zeal  of  many  Protestant 
nobles  had   grown   cold.     The  Duke  of  Parma  had 


\ 


150  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

compelled  Antwerp,  the  last  and  in  every  respect  the 
most  important  stronghold  of  the  Cause  in  Flanders, 
to  surrender  (August,  1585);  it  seemed  unlikely  that 
Holland  and  Zealand,  now  that  William  the  Silent 
was  no  more,  would  long  detain  the  conqueror,  who 
might  next  direct  his  victorious  army  against  the 
French  heretics. 

'  Contrary  to  all  expectations  the  war  was  carried, 
on  with  so  little  vigour  in  1585  and  1586  that  the 
Huguenots  were  able  to  hold  their  own.  The  King 
sent  whatever  supplies  and  money  he  could  raise  to 
Epernon  or  Joyeuse  and  crippled  by  his  ill-will  the 
operations  of  the  Leaguers.  The  nobility  generally 
showed  little  interest  in  the  cause,  disliking  equally 
the  alliance  of  the  Guises  with  the  fanatical  demo- 
cracy of  the  great  towns,  their  disloyalty  to  the 
Crown,  and  their  subordination  to  Spain.  The  sup- 
port of  the  Duke  of  Montmorency  (Damville),  an 
unscrupulous  and  dissolute  man,  indifferent  to  the 
religious  question,  but  the  determined  enemy  of  the 
House  of  Lorraine,  secured  the  predominance  of 
the  Protestants  in  Languedoc,/ while  in  Poitou  they 
had  been  greatly  strengthened  by  the  conversion  of 
the  young  Duke  of  Thouars,  the  head  of  the  great 
House  of  La  Tr^moille,  and  grandfather  of  that 
Countess  of  Derby  who  defended  Lathom  House 
so  gallantly  in  the  English  Civil  Wars. 

'The  Huguenots  might  perhaps  have  been  even 
more  successful  had  they  not,  like  their  opponents, 
been  divided  by  faction.  Cond^wasthe  rival  rather 
than  the  lieutenant  of  his  cousin  ;  the  Viscount  of 
Turenne  and   other  great   nobles  were   difilicult  to 


t589]  The  Three  Henrys.  151 

manage  and  too  ready  to  sacrifice  the  common  good 
to  their  private  aggrandisement,  but  still  the  party 
had  a  head,  and  that  head  was  Henry  of  Navarre.^ 

His  activity  was  prodigious.  Not  only  did  he  ap- 
pear to  see  everything  and  to  do  everything  himself, 
but  if  there  was  any  quarter  from  which  assistance 
might  be  hoped,  any  friend  whose  zeal  needed  en- 
couragement, any  opponent  whose  hostility  might 
be  disarmed,  there  never  was  wanting  some  weighty 
despatch  from  the  pen  of  Mornay,  some  shorter  but 
pregnant  letter  written  by  the  King  himself,  or  one 
of  those  spirited  notes,  which,  says  a  great  critic, 
seem  written  when  his  foot  was  already  in  the  stir- 
rup, which  breathe  the  fresh  vigour  of  the  morn- 
ing and  recall  in  their  stirring  brevity  the  note  of 
horn  or  trumpet  rousing  huntsman  or  soldier. 

What  Gascon  squire,  ever  ready  for  war  and  adven- 
ture, but  must  have  felt  his  heart  beat  quicker  on 
receiving  such  a  summons  as  this :  "  Put  wings  to 
your  best  horse.  I  have  told  Montespan  to  break  the 
wind  of  his.  Why?  That  I  will  tell  you  at  Nerac. 
Hasten,  speed,  fly.  This  is  the  command  of  your 
master  and  the  prayer  of  your  friend  "  ;  or  this : 
"You  will  doubtless  not  have  failed  to  sell  your 
woods  and  they  will  have  produced  some  thousand 
pistoles.  If  so,  be  sure  to  bring  me  all  you  can,  for 
I  never  in  my  life  was  in  such  need  ;  and  I  do  not 
know  when,  or  whence,  or  if  ever  I  shall  be  able 
to  repay  you.  But  I  can  promise  you  abundant 
honour  and  glory,  and  gentlemen  like  you  and  me 
do  not  live  on  money." 

Even  before  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  between 


152  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

the  King  and  the  League,  Henry  had  appealed  to 
his  countrymen  in  a  manifesto  pubHshed  at  Bergerac 
(June,  1585).  He  was  a  good  Christian  and  no  here- 
tic, since  he  was  wilHngto  receive  instruction  from  a 
free  and  general  council  while  a  heretic  is  one  who 
obstinately  persists  in  error.  '  Neither  was  he,  as  his 
enemies  pretended,  a  persecutor.  He  had  never 
interfered  with  Catholic  worship  in  the  towns  he 
occupied,  but  had  protected  the  monks  and  priests 
and  had  left  them  the  use  of  the  churches,  while  he 
retired  to  pray  with  his  fellow  believers  in  some  pri- 
vate house.  His  enemies  in  their  solicitude  to  settle 
the  succession  to  the  throne  had  chosen  as  heir  to 
the  Crown  of  France,  an  old  and  childless  man  of 
sixty-six,  as  if  the  King  who  was  married  and  in  the 
vigour  of  his  life  had  only  a  year  or  two  to  live. 
He  was  anxious  above  all  to  spare  his  country  the 
evils  of  civil  war;  for  this  he  would  even  surrender 
the  towns  held  by  the  Protestants,  although  neces- 
sary, as  experience  had  shown  to  their  safety,  pro- 
vided that  the  chiefs  of  the  League  would  also  place 
the  fortresses  they  occupied  in  the  King's  hands. 
If  they  would  do  the  like,  he  would  also  resign  his 
governments.  Should  these  offers  not  be  acceptable, 
the  quarrel  might  be  fought  out  without  injury  and 
ruin  to  the  Commonwealth,  if  the  Duke  of  Guise 
would  meet  him  in  single  combat  or  with  ten  or 
twenty  champions  on  each  side.  '' 

Next  followed  (August  10,  1585)  a  declaration 
published  in  the  names  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  the 
Prince  of  Conde,  the  Duke  of  Montmorency  and 
**  the  lords,   gentlemen,  towns  and    communities  of 


I    ^ 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  153 

both  creeds  associated  for  the  defence  of  the  realm," 
accusing  the  House  of  Lorraine  of  seeking  to  over- 
throw the  Monarchy  and  of  being  the  source  of  all 
the  sufferings  of  the  country.  In  attacking  these 
traitors,  the  associates  protested  that  they  had  no 
aim  but  the  service  and  independence  of  the  King. 
The  German  Princes,  the  Kings  of  Denmark  and  Scot- 
land, the  Protestant  cantons  of  Switzerland,  the  Eng- 
lish nobles  and  their  Queen  were  warned,  that  the 
Holy  League  had  devoted  them  all  to  the  same 
destruction,  that  nothing  appeared  inaccessible  to 
the  ambition  of  Spain,  which  already  stretched  across 
so  many  seas  and  lands.  Therefore  they  should 
support  those  who  were  fighting  in  France  against 
the  common  enemy  and  his  allies,  the  rebels  who 
had  compelled  their  king  to  break  his  edicts  and  to 
attack  his  most  faithful  subjects. 
f  Nor  was  the  papal  bull  left  unanswered,  which 
Sixtus  v.,  more  violent  though  less  favourable  to  the 
League  and  Spain  than  Gregory  XHL,  had  ful- 
minated against  Henry  of  Bourbon.  The  astonished 
Romans  awoke  one  morning  to  see  the  celebrated 
statues  of  Pasquin  and  Marforio  and  the  doors  of  the 
principal  churches  decorated  by  a  document  which 
professed  to  be  a  proclamation  of  Henry,  by  the 
Grace  of  God,  King  of  Navarre  and  Prince  of  B6arn, 
in  which  he  gave  the  lie  to  "  Monsieur  Sixte,"  self- 
styled  Pope  of  Rome,  asserted  that  he  was  prepared 
to  prove  him  a  heretic  in  a  free  and  oecumenical 
council,  and  declared  that  he  would  avenge  on  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  and  his  successors  the  insult  done  to 
the  royal  House  of  France  in  his  person. 


1 54  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

Sixtus,  bold  himself,  appreciated  boldness  in  others 
and  was  disposed  to  admire  rather  than  to  be  angry 
with  the  audacity  of  Henry  and  the  faithful  courage 
of  his  agents.  The  insulting  document  itself  was 
written  not  by  a  Protestant,  but  by  a  Galilean  lawyer 
and  placeman,  L'Estoile,  whose  diary  is  one  of  the 
most  useful  documents  for  the  history  of  this  period, 
as  a  record  of  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  the  most 
enlightened,  the  most  honest  and  moderate  of  the 
middle  class. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris  showed  its  hostility  to  the 
League  and  its  readiness  to  support  the  King  should 
he  venture  on  a  bolder  policy,  not  only  by  vigorous 
protests  against  the  infraction  of  Galilean  liberties  by 
the  unauthorised  publication  of  a  Bull,  excommuni- 
cating the  first  Prince  of  the  Blood,  but  also  by 
declaring  that  it  was  monstrous  to  expose  millions  of 
men,  women  and  children  to  death  without  apparent 
cause  on  an  ill-established  and  vague  charge  of  heresy, 
and  that  it  would  not  honour  as  royal  edicts,  the 
articles  of  an  unconstitutional  league,  in  arms  not 
only  against  God  but  against  nature,  which  com- 
manded fathers  to  be  no  longer  fathers,  friend  to  be- 
tray friend,  and  which  promised  to  the  assassin  the 
spoils  of  his  victim. 

The  Guises  on  the  other  hand,  conscious  that  they 
were  hated  by  the  King,  and  that  at  any  moment  he 
might  turn  against  them,  did  not  cease  to  discredit 
and  undermine  his  authority,  and  their  fears  when 
Catherine  began  once  more  to  negotiate  with  the 
King  of  Navarre,  were  not  allayed  by  the  protesta- 
tions of  the  Queen-Mother  and  her  son,  that  their 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  155 

only  object  was  to  prevent  or  delay  the  invasion  of 
France  by  a  powerful  army  of  German  Protestants. 

The  GermanJ^rinces  declared  that  it  was  to  Francis 
I.  and  Henry  II.  that  Germany  owed  the  toleration 
of  Protestantism,  and  that  gratitude  for  what  those 
kings  had  done  compelled  them  to  endeavor  to 
secure  the  like  boon  for  France.  The  Protestant 
Swiss,  cantons  allowed  10,000  men  to  enlist  for  the 
service  of  the  King  of  Navarre.  These  mercenaries, 
when  united  with  the  Germans  and  with  a  body  of 
French  refugees,  formed  an  army  of  some  30,000 
men.  They  were  to  march  from  the  Rhine  to  the 
Loire  and  there  to  join  the  forces  of  the  King  of 
Navarre. 

Henry  III.  determined  to  send  his  favourite 
Joyeuse  against  the  Huguenots,  and  himself  to  take 
the  command  of  the  army  opposed  to  the  Germans, 
Even  the  Duke  of  Guise,  lieutenant-general  of  the 
League  though  he  was,  could  not  pretend  to  the 
supreme  command  when  the  King  in  person  was 
present. 

:^  At  Coutras  on  the  borders  of  Saintonge  and  Peri- 
gord,  a  few  miles  north  of  Libourne  on  the  Dor- 
dogne,  Henry  of  Bourbon  met  Joyeuse  and  won  the 
first  victory  which  had  been  gained  by  the  Protes- 
tants in  twenty-five  years  of  civil  war  (October  20, 
1581).   ) 

The  King's  minions  and  courtiers  had  crowded 
to  serve  under  Joyeuse  and  vied  in  the  magnificence 
of  their  arms  and  equipments.  As  the  autumn  sun 
shone  on  the  first  ranks  of  the  Catholic  army,  wholly 
composed  of    nobles   resplendent    with   embroidery 


156  Hejiry  of  Navarre.  [i585 

and  gold,  Henry  pointed  out  the  glittering  line  to 
the  Protestant  gentry,  who  had  cut  down  their  tim- 
ber and  mortgaged  their  estates  to  equip  themselves 
and  their  followers  w^ith  the  bare  necessaries  of  war. 
His  words  have  been  compared  to  that  proclamation 
in  which  Bonaparte  inflamed  the  zeal  of  his  ragged 
and  half  starved  battalions  by  the  prospect  of  plun- 
der and  licence  in  the  fertile  plains  and  luxurious 
cities  of  Italy.  "  Here,  my  friends,  you  have  before 
you  a  very  different  quarry  from  any  we  have  hith- 
erto followed.  A  bridegroom  [Joyeuse  had  been 
recently  married]  with  his  wife's  dowry  still  in  his 
pocket  and  accompanied  by  the  flower  of  the  Court. 
Courage !  there  is  none  among  you  of  so  little 
account  that  he  shall  not  henceforth  ride  a  made 
charger  and  be  served  on  silver  plate."  But  it  was 
not  with  thoughts  of  booty  alone  that  the  Hugue- 
nots entered  the  battle.  They  threw  themselves  on 
their  knees  to  implore  God's  help.  The  young 
courtiers  round  Joyeuse  shouted,  "  They  are  afraid  ! 
they  are  confessing  themselves,"  and  were  urgent  to 
be  allowed  to  charge,  and  the  more  so  because  the 
enemy's  artillery  well  directed  by  Rosny,  was  plough- 
ing long  furrows  through  their  ranks.  As  the 
Catholic  army  advanced,  the  Protestants,  led  by  the 
King's  chaplains  sang  the  triumphant  verses  of 
the  1 1 2th  psalm.  '  "  They  came  about  me  like  bees, 
and  are  extinct  even  as  the  fire  among  the  thorns, 
for  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  I  will  destroy  them." 
While  Henry  turned  to  the  Prince  of  Cond6  and  his 
brother  the  Count  of  Soissons,  "  Cousins,  I  have 
only  to  remind  you  that  you  belong  to  the  family  of 


1589] 


The  Three  Henrys.  157 


Bourbon,  and,  God's  life  !  I  will  prove  to  you  that  I 
am  its  head." 

The  King  of  Navarre  handled  his  army,  which 
though  about  equal  to  the  enemy  in  infantry,  was 
greatly  inferior  in  cavalry,  with  great  judgment. 
He  made  up  for  the  light  equipment  and  inferior 
numbers  of  his  horse  by  drawing  them  up  in  deep 
masses  and  placing  his  matchlock  men  between  their 
columns.  It  was  not  till  Joyeuse's  men-at-arms  were 
within  a  few  yards,  the  heavy  men  and  horses  tired 
with  attempting  to  trot  up  the  rising  ground,  and 
galled  with  the  fire  of  musketry,  that  Henry  headed 
the  decisive  charge  upon  their  extended  line.  The 
pistols  of  the  Huguenots  emptied  many  a  saddle, 
before  they  closed,  and  fighting  hand  to  hand  their 
opponents  could  not  use  their  lances.  In  an  hour 
the  royalist  army  was  in  headlong  flight.  Joyeuse 
himself,  400  gentlemen  and  2,000  soldiers  Avere  killed  ; 
the  booty  gained  by  the  Huguenots,  who  lost  but 
forty  men,  was  immense. 

(  Although  so  complete,  the  victory  of  Coutras  had 
no  important  results.  Henry  has  been  blamed  for  not 
pressing  on  to  join  the  advancing  Germans,  after 
which  he  might  have  fallen  with  superior  forces  on 
the  King,  or  have  extorted  peace  by  a  bold  march  on 
Paris.  He  sacrificed  his  victory  to  love,  says  Aubign^ 
— and  some  years  later,  his  chaplain  D'Amours 
reminded  him  how  he  had  vainly  urged  him  on 
the  morning  after  the  battle  to  use  to  the  utmost 
the  victory  God  had  given  him.  Yet  we  can  scarcely 
believe  that  his  conduct  at  so  important  a  crisis  was 
determined   by  his  desire   to   lay  his  laurels  at  the 


158  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

feet  of  the  Countess  of  Grammont.  Devoted 
though  he  was  to  his  mistresses,  Henry  maintained 
that  he  never  had  preferred  them  to  the  interests 
of  the  Statei  and  after  reading  his  voluminous  cor- 
respondence, it  is  difficult  not  to  allow,  that,  at 
any  rate  during  the  earlier  part  of  his  life,  the  boast 
was  not  ill  founded,  nor  was  Corisande  the  woman 
to  expect  or  encourage  such  weakness  in  her  lover, 

(it  was  in  part  the  completeness  of  the  defeat  of 
the  Catholics,  which  was  their  salvation.  Henry 
could  not  keep  his  army  together,  so  eager  were  the 
soldiers  to  secure  and  carry  home  their  booty. 
Moreover,  a  large  part  of  his  forces  consisted  of  the 
levies  of  the  districts  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood, Poitou,  Saintonge,  Angoumois,  who  had  come 
prepared  to  fight  a  battle,  but  not  equipped  for  a 
campaign.^  These  and  other  reasons  for  inaction  are 
alleged  in  a  despatch  to  Elizabeth  of  England. 

It  may  perhaps  be  thought  that  the  eagerness  with 
which  Henry  excuses  his  failure  to  meet  his  allies, 
argues  a  consciousness  of  some  want  of  energy  on 
his  part,  but  it  was  necessary  to  keep  the  Queen 
of  England  in  good  humour,  and  she  was  natu- 
rally incensed  at  the  futile  conclusion  of  an  expedition 
to  further  which  she  had  done  violence  to  her 
habitual  parsimony. 

John  Casimir,  the  brother  of  the  Elector  Pala- 
tine, from  some  strange  scruple  about  attacking  the 
neighbouring  House  of  Lorraine,  had  not  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  motley  army  he  had  as- 
sembled. He  entrusted  the  command  to  Fabian  of 
Dohna,  a  Prussian  noble  of  considerable  military  ex 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  159 

perience  and  of  great  zeal  for  the  Protestant  cause, 
but  of  neither  sufficient  reputation  nor  rank  to  com- 
mand the  ready  and  cheerful  obedience  of  his  sub- 
ordinates. The  Swiss,  when  they  found  the  King 
of  France  in  person  opposed  to  them,  refused  to 
fight,  and  gladly  accepted  Henry  Ill's  offer  to  pay 
them  400,000  ducats  to  go  home.  The  confederates 
reached  the  Loire.  Instead  of  being  met  by  a  Pro- 
testant army  they  found  the  towns  and  bridges  occu- 
pied by  the  King.  The  Guises  were  advancing  in 
their  rear  ;  and  at  Auneau  surprised  the  Germans  in 
their  quarters  and  inflicted  on  them  a  loss  of  2,000 
men.  After  this  slaughter  and  the  desertion  of  the 
Swiss,  the  whole  Protestant  army  barely  amounted 
to  12,000.  They  were  without  any  definite  plan  of 
operations,  the  season  was  late  and  inclement,  the 
soldiers  were  exhausted  by  fatigue  and  disease, 
the  line  of  march  was  marked  by  abandoned  waggons, 
by  the  corpses  of  men  who  had  fallen  out  of  the 
ranks  from  sickness  or  fatigue  and  had  been  piti- 
lessly slaughtered  by  the  peasantry  in  retaliation  for 
their  rapine  and  cruelty.  One  woman  boasted  that 
she  had  with  her  knife  cut  the  throats  of  seventeen 
of  these  accursed  heretics,  who  had  crept  into  a  barn 
for  a  little  shelter  before  they  died.  The  Germans 
followed  the  course  of  the  Loire  till  they  saw  before 
them  the  high  mountains  in  which  it  rises.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  hills  was  a  friendly  district  and 
towns  garrisoned  by  their  allies.  Chatillon,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Admiral,  who  accompanied  the 
invaders  with  a  body  of  French  refugees,  undertook 
to  clear  the  passes  and  lead  the  army  into  Languedoc 


i6o  Henry  of  Nava^'re.  [1585- 

in  four  days.  But  the  offer  of  the  King,  to  assist 
them  to  return  to  their  own  country  if  they  would 
swear  never  again  to  bear  arms  in  France,  was  too 
tempting  to  be  refused.  Bolder  counsels  would  have 
been  safer.  The  Guises  treated  the  royal  safe  con- 
duct as  valid  only  in  France ;  as  soon  as  the  retreating 
Germans  had  crossed  the  frontiers  of  Franche-Comt^, 
they  fell  upon  them  and  cut  the  greater  number  to 
pieces. 

The  campaign  of  1589  had  decided  nothing.  The 
hopes  of  the  Huguenots  were  not  crushed  by  the 
misfortunes  of  their  allies ;  since  the  victory  of 
Coutras  they  felt  confidence  in  their  own  unassisted 
strength. 

!  The  enmity  of  Henry  HI.  and  of  Guise  was  em- 
bittered. The  failure  of  the  German  invasion  was 
really  due  to  the  negotiations  of  the  former,  but  all 
the  credit  was  ascribed  by  the  populace  to  the  latter. 
He  was  a  glorious  conqueror,  the  King  had  treach- 
erously saved  the  Swiss  from  his  avenging  sword 
and  had  given  them  money  into  the  bargain.  Henry 
HI.  found  that  he  had  only  bestirred  himself  to 
increase  the  power  and  popularity  of  the  Duke.  He 
bitterly  declared  to  his  courtiers  that  the  King  of 
Navarre  was  not  his  worst  enemy^j  The  morning 
after  Coutras,  Henry  of  Bourbon  had  written  :  "  Sire, 
my  lord  and  brother,  return  thanks  to  God,  I  have 
defeated  your  foes  and  your  army.  You  will  hear 
from  the  bearer,  whether,  though  I  stand  sword  in 
hand  in  the  midst  of  your  kingdom,  it  is  I  who  am, 
as  it  is  pretended,  your  enemy,"  and  the  King  of 
France  was  disposed  to  believe  that  his  brother-in- 


15891  The  Three  Henrys.  i6i 

law  spoke  the  truth  ;  that  Henry  of  Guise  was  his 
worst  enemy  he  at  any  rate  did  not  doubt.  A 
remarkable  despatch,  written  by  the  English  ambas- 
sador, throws  light  upon  the  situation  and  upon  the 
character  of  the  French  King.  Sir  E.  Stafford  tells 
how  secretly  and  by  night  he  was  brought  to  a 
house  where  he  met  Henry  HI.  alone.  The  King 
began  by  saying  that  in  the  confidence  that  his  words 
would  be  communicated  to  no  one  but  the  Queen  of 
England  he  would  explain  openly  and  fully  the  po- 
sition in  which  he  found  himself,  so  that  his  sister 
might  consult  thereon  with  her  most  secret  council- 
lors, she  had  such,  and  wise ;  he  had  no  one  whom 
he  could  trust.  By  the  advice  of  the  Queen-Mother 
and  his  council  he  had  refused  a  proposal  made  by 
Elizabeth  to  mediate  between  him  and  the  Hugue- 
nots ;  but  he  besought  her  to  do  so  with  all  his  heart ; 
and  above  all  to  persuade  Navarre  to  have  a  care  of 
his  own  interests  and  to  accommodate  himself  to  him 
in  such  sort  (/.  e.  by  his  conversion)  that  the  League 
might  have  no  pretext  to  undo  him  and  France.  He 
himself  was  a  good  Catholic,  and  wished  all  France 
to  be  Catholic,  but  he  was  not  such  a  bigot  as  to  prefer 
to  ruin  himself  and  his  kingdom  rather  than  tolerate 
the  Reformers.  If  the  Germans  had  shown  valour 
and  discretion  they  might  have  brought  the  League 
on  their  knees.  Why  had  they  not  attacked  Lor- 
raine, Champagne  and  Burgundy,  instead  of  fol- 
lowing him  to  the  Loire?  He  had  been  obliged 
to  act  as  he  had,  so  as  not  to  leave  all  honour 
to  the  Guises.  Stafford  remarked  that  it  hardly 
seemed  to  be  to  the  King's  interest  that  Henry  of 


1 62  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

Bourbon  should  conform.  All  men  would  then  turn 
to  the  rising  sun.  The  King  was  silent  for  awhile. 
He  then  said  every  one  could  rule  a  shrewd  wife 
except  he  that  had  her,  and  such  was  his  case ; 
he  hardly  knew  which  way  to  turn,  yet  he  would 
rather  risk  what  might  come  from  Navarre. 

•  The  feelings  with  which  they  were  regarded  by 
Henry  HI.  were  well  known  to  the  League.  Seditious 
pamphlets  were  hawked  about  the  streets  of  Paris  and 
the  pulpits  rang  with  discourses  not  less  outspoken. 
The  King,  it  was  repeated,  sympathised  with  the 
Huguenots;  he  had  saved  their  foreign  allies  from 
destruction,  he  had  advised  his  dear  friend  the 
English  Jezebel  to  murder  the  sainted  Queen  of 
Scots.  He  left  the  troops  who  were  shedding  their 
blood  for  God  and  country  to  starve,  while  he 
squandered  vast  sums  on  the  atheist  Epernon,  and  on 
indecent  orgies  and  follies.  The  Sorbonne  in  secret 
session— thirty  or  forty  dirty  pedants  and  masters 
of  arts,  grumbles  L'Estoile^decided  that  incom- 
petent and  faithless  princes  may  rightly  be  deposed.) 

[  The  "  Sixteen  "  and  their  most  violent  supporters 
plotted  to  seize  the  King's  person.)  The  Duchess 
of  Montpensier,  the  sister  of  the  Guises,  whose  fer- 
vid fanaticism  and  feminine  recklessness  were  the 
useful  instruments  of  her  brother  Guise's  calculating 
ambition,  boasted  that  she  wore  at  her  girdle  the 
scissors  which  should  give  Henry  of  Valois  his  third 
crown,  the  tonsure. 

( The  leaders  of  the  faction  met  at  Nancy  and 
agreed  upon  new  articles  to  be  presented  as  an  ulti- 
matum to  the  King.     In  these  they  demanded  that 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  163 

he  should  assume  a  less  ambiguous  attitude,  wage  a 
war  of  extermination  against  the  heretics,  dismiss 
all  suspected  ministers  and  officers,  accept  the 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  establish  the  Holy 
Inquisition,  place  more  fortresses  in  the  hands  of 
the  Princes  of  the  League,  and  provide  for  the  pay- 
ment of  their  troops ;  the  last  might  be  done  by 
selling  the  estates  of  the  heretics  and  of  their  allies, 
the  skin  of  the  living  bear.  The  King  again  began 
to  negotiate — not  daring  to  reject  these  insolent 
proposals.) 

•In  the  spring  of  1588  the  Invincible  Armada  was 
preparing  to  sail,  and  Parma  had  received  orders  to 
collect  his  forces  and  to  be  prepared  to  embark  as 
soon  as  the  Spanish  fleet  had  swept  the  narrow  seas. 
But  if  this  was  to  be  done  with  any  degree  of  safety, 
it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  the  action  of  France 
should  be  paralysedy  Otherwise  so  favourable  an 
opportunity  of  interfering  in  Flanders,  and  the 
vital  importance  of  not  allowing  England  to  become 
a  Spanish  province,  would  not  suffer  even  the  most 
supine  and  irresolute  of  French  kings  to  remain 
inactive. 

(The  Spanish  ambassador  was  accordingly  ordered 
to  insist  that  the  League  should  either  compel  the 
King  to  give  satisfactory  pledges  of  his  devotion  to 
the  Catholic  cause,  or  deprive  him  of  the  power  of 
becoming  dangerous.) 

Henry  III.,  aware  of  the  plots  against  his  liberty, 
if  not  against  his  life,  was  fortifying  himself  in  the 
Louvre,  and  had  garrisoned  that  palace,  the  Bastille, 
and  the  Arsenal  with  a  stron<2'  force  of  Swiss.     The 


164  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

Sixteen   and    the   Spanish    envoys   urged    Guise  to 
hasten  to  the  Capital. 

Not  only  did  Henry  of  Guise,  in  defiance  of  the 
King's  prohibition,  enter  Paris  where  he  was  re- 
ceived with  delirious  joy  as  a  conqueror  and  saviour, 
he  had  even  the  incredible  audacity  to  venture 
almost  unaccompanied  into  the  Louvre.  The  King 
grew  white  with  anger  when  the  approach  of  the 
Duke  was  announced.  "  He  shall  die ! "  he  ex- 
claimed with  a  vehement  oath.  An  Italian  priest 
who  stood  by  quoted  the  text,  "  I  will  smite  the 
shepherd  and  the  sheep  shall  be  scattered."  "  Stone 
dead,"  said  the  soldiers  about  the  King,  "  hath  no 
fellow  "  ;  but  the  courtiers  who  feared  the  vengeance 
of  the  people,  urged  caution,  they  described  the  ex- 
cited crowds  who  thronged  the  streets  and  even 
the  courtyard  of  the  Palace.  While  Henry  hesitated, 
Guise  entered,  accompanied  by  the  Queen-Mother ; 
he  looked  pale  and  discomposed  ;  he  had  passed 
through  ranks  of  armed  men  ;  Crillon  the  Captain  of 
the  Guard  had  defiantly  neglected  to  return  his 
salute.  "  I  ordered  you  not  to  come,"  were  the 
first  words  of  the  King.  "  Sire,  I  received  no  ex- 
press command,"  replied  Guise,  "  or  I  should  not 
have  ventured  into  your  presence,  though  I  have  but 
come  to  beg  for  justice  against  the  calumnies  of  my 
enemies."  Catherine,  alarmed  at  the  evident  rage 
of  her  son,  led  him  aside  and  urged  him  to  do  noth- 
ing which  might  provoke  the  fury  of  the  people. 
What  protection  could  a  few  thousand  Swiss  afTord 
against  the  armed  multitude  of  Paris  ?  Guise  took 
advantage   of    the  opportunity   to  escape  from    so 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  165 

dangerous  a  situation.  When  he  next  visited  the 
Louvre  he  was  accompanied  by  400  gentlemen,  who 
wore  arms  under  their  clothes. 

It  was  evident  that  the  King  was  raging  under  the 
yoke  of  the  League,  and  that  he  would  throw  it  off 
if  occasion  offered.  Epernon  had  occupied  Lagny 
on  the  Marne  with  his  troops,  and  was  about  to  se- 
cure Rouen  and  Orleans.  Holding  these  towns  he 
could  threaten  Paris  on  all  sides  and  interrupt  the 
supplies  and  trade  of  the  great  city.  The  ferment 
among  the  inhabitants  increased.  The  King 
ordered  the  municipal  militia,  supported  by  6,000 
Swiss,  to  occupy  the  most  important  points  of  the 
city.  The  trainbands  either  refused  to  obey  the 
summons  of  their  captains,  or  deserted  the  posts 
they  were  ordered  to  hold.  Barricades  arose  every- 
where in  the  narrow  streets.  The  Swiss  were  sur- 
rounded by  an  armed  mob,  and  themselves  without 
shelter  were  exposed  to  the  fire  of  enemies  covered 
by  the  barricades  and  by  the  houses  which  they  had 
occupied  and  turned  into  fortresses. 

When  Guise  showed  himself  it  was  to  protect  the 
King's  troops  from  the  fury  of  the  people,  and  to 
release  those  who  had  laid  down  their  arms  on  a 
promise  that  their  life  should  be  spared.  Unarmed, 
in  a  white  silken  doublet  and  a  switch  in  his  hand, 
he  walked  through  the  enthusiastic  crowd  deprecat- 
ing their  rapturous  applause — "  Enough,  enough, 
dear  friends,  cry  Long  live  the  King."  Next  morn- 
ing a  threatening  mob,  the  dregs  of  the  people,  led 
by  a  sacred  band  of  friars  and  students  of  the  Uni- 
versity, assembled  with  cries  of  "  To  the  Louvre,' 


1 66  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

"  Let  us  fetch  brother  Henry,"  for  the  fanatics  now 
talked  of  nothing  less  than  of  deposing  the  King  and 
compelling  him  to  end  his  days  in  some  monastery. 
Fearing  for  his  liberty  and  his  life  the  King  fled 
through  the  one  gate  he  still  held,  the  Porte  Neuve, 
situated  near  the  middle  of  the  great  gallery  of  the 
present  Louvre,  and  took  horse  at  the  stables  of  the 
Tuileries,  accompanied  by  his  courtiers  and  the 
majority  of  his  Council.  So  unpremeditated  was 
this  flight  that  many  mounted  their  horses  unbooted, 
in  silken  hose  and  robes  of  ofiflce.  The  guards  at  the 
Porte  de  Nesle  fired  across  the  river  at  the  motley 
cavalcade  as  it  passed  along  the  bank,  while  the  peo- 
ple shouted  taunts  and  insults.  On  the  hill  of  Chail- 
lot,  Henry  turned  to  look  once  more  on  the  Capital 
he  was  never  again  to  enter.  "  Ungrateful  city,"  he 
muttered,  "  I  loved  you  more  than  my  wife." 

No  pursuit  was  attempted  ;  Henry  HL  a  prisoner 
in  the  Duke's  hands  would  have  been  a  terrible  source 
of  embarrassment ;  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 
find  a  cage  for  such  a  bird.  It  is  not  likely  that  the 
ambition  of  Henry  of  Guise  extended  to  the  throne. 
He  wished  for  the  sword  of  Constable,  the  position 
of  Lieutenant-General  of  the  kingdom,  and  these  he 
felt  certain  that  he  would  be  able  to  obtain  by  the 
vote  of  the  Estates  and  from  the  fears  of  the  King. 
The  prize  for  which  he  strove  seemed  already  within 
his  grasp ;  but  the  death  or  captivity  of  the  King 
would  have  revived  the  loyal  instincts  of  the  nation, 
his  follies  and  vices  would  have  been  forgotten,  a 
civil  war  would  have  been  kindled,  which  would  have 
invited  the  ambitious    intervention  of    Spain,  have 


t589]  The  Three  Henrys.  167 

given  an  opportunity  to  the  Huguenots  and  at  the 
end  of  which  Guise,  even  if  successful,  could  scarcely 
hope  to  be  more  powerful  than  he  was  already.  If 
more  splendid  hopes  dazzled  his  ambition  their 
realisation  would  be  easier,  when,  after  the  natural 
death  of  the  last  Valois,  a  distant  collateral  and  a 
heretic  was  the  heir  of  the  Capets.  Then  the  Con- 
stable and  Lieutenant-General  of  the  kingdom,  dis- 
posing of  the  army  and  of  the  administration,  might 
assert  the  right  of  the  orthodox  Church  and  people 
of  France  to  prefer  a  prince  of  the  old  Carolingian  line. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  was  the  policy  of  Henry 
III.  during  the  six  months  which  elapsed  between 
the  Day  of  the  Barricades  (May  12,  1588)  and  the 
assassination  of  Guise  (December  23,  1588). 

It  is  probable  that  as  yet  he  had  no  fixed  plan,  but, 
living  from  hand  to  mouth,  left  the  morrow  to  take 
thought  for  itself, — a  policy  consisting  in  the  absence 
of  all  policy,  commoner,  Aubigne  remarks,  among 
princes  than  those  would  readily  believe  who  have 
not  enjoyed  their  confidence. 

The  sufferings  of  the  people,  the  anarchy  and  dis- 
solution of  every  principle  of  order,  could  not  escape 
the  notice  of  the  most  careless  observer.  Already, 
as  at  the  time  of  the  English  wars,  the  peasantry, 
tired  of  sowing  when  they  were  not  allowed  to  reap, 
were  abandoning  the  plough  to  live  as  brigands  on 
the  highways,  or  to  collect  in  large  bands  among  the 
forests.  "  Gallia  silvescit,"  wrote  Du  Plessis-Mornay 
in  1 587.  "  One  who  had  fallen  asleep  twenty-five  years 
ago,  would,  if  he  now  awoke,  imagine  himself  trans- 
ported to  some  barbarous  island," 


1 63  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 


I.  To  ?vcid  an  open  breach  with  the  League  and 
such  an  ou^'break  of  civil  war  as  must  complete  the 
ruin  of  the  country,  the  King  offered  to  yield  every- 
thing to  Guise  short  of  the  entire  government  of  the 
state ;  and  when  the  Estates  met  at  Blois  (October, 
1588)  made  another  attempt  to  gain  the  confidence 
of  the  Catholic  party.j 

He  offered  the  largest  concessions,  the  fullest  con- 
fession of  his  errors  in  the  past  and  the  most  explicit 
promises  of  future  amendment.  "  I  know,  gentle- 
men, that  I  have  sinned,  I  have  offended  God — but 
for  the  future  I  will  do  better — I  will  reduce  my 
expenses  to  the  lowest  limit,  where  there  were  two 
capons  on  my  table  there  shall  henceforth  be  only 
one."  He  even  most  reluctantly  recognised  the  Car- 
dinal of  Bourbon  as  first  Prince  of  the  Blood,  and 
assented  to  a  declaration  that,  as  a  relapsed  heretic, 
the  King  of  Navarre  had  forfeited  his  right  to  the 
succession. 

But  no  concession  would  satisfy  his  opponents  ; 
they  drove  him  from  point  to  point,  inflicted  humilia- 
tion upon  humiliation,  until  at  length  he  turned 
savagely  to  bay. 

He  was  warned,  even,  it  is  said,  by  members  of 
the  House  of  Lorraine,  who  were  jealous  of  their 
kinsman,  that  the  Duke  of  Guise  intended  to  pro- 
cure a  confirmation  of  his  authority  and  the  dignity 
of  Constable  from  the  Estates  and  carrying  the 
King  back  to  Paris  to  govern  the  kingdom  in  his 
name. 

VAs  Henry  HL  had  before  shared  with  his  mother 
the  mistake  of  supposing  that  the  whole  future  and 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  169 

strength  of  the  Protestant  party  depended  on  the 
life  of  Coligny,  so  he  now  seems  to  have  beheved 
that  the  League  was  incarnate  in  Guise,  that  if  he 
could  be  removed,  the  Cathohc  party  would  wel- 
come the  King  as  their  leader.*  Some  of  his  most 
intimate  advisers  encouraged  him  in  this  view,  quot- 
ing an  Italian  proverb,  "  No  fear  of  the  dead  viper's 
venom."  The  Duke  was  repeatedly  warned  that  his 
life  was  in  danger.  A  few  days  before  his  assassina- 
tion he  debated  with  his  friends  whether  he  should 
leave  Blois — in  other  words  begin  a  civil  war  against 
the  King,  or  continue  to  coerce  Henry  by  his  pres- 
ence and  by  the  authority  of  the  Estates.  The 
former  course  would  have  compelled  Henry  HI.  to 
make  common  cause  with  the  Protestants  and  the 
Politicians,  and  unless  he  was  prepared  to  become 
the  mere  tool  of  Spain,  Guise  was  not  strong  enough 
to  struggle  against  such  a  combination.  Many  of 
the  nobles,  who  had  at  first  adhered  to  the  League, 
had  been  disgusted  by  the  court  it  had  paid  to  the 
democracy  of  the  towns  and  by  the  contumelious 
treatment  of  the  King.  The  League,  it  was  said, 
had  gained  the  Huguenots  more  adherents  in  three 
months  than  they  could  by  their  own  efforts  have 
secured  in  thirty  years.  The  personal  followers  on 
whose  devotion  Guise  might  count,  his  advisers  and 
confidants,  were  men  of  tarnished  reputation  and 
broken  fortunes.  He  determined  therefore  not  to 
risk  the  failure  of  his  plans  by  leaving  Blois :  if  he 
saw  death  come  in  at  the  window  he  would  not,  he 
said,  escape  by  the  door.  Besides  he  too  thor- 
oughly despised  the  King,  who  affected  to  be  more 


1 70  Henry  of  Navarre.  uses 


than  ever  immersed  in  frivolity  and  devotion,  to  be- 
lieve him  capable  of  any  energetic  and  determined 
resolution.  There  was,  he  said,  no  spark  of  manliness 
or  courage  left  in  him.  He  forgot  that  the  vilest 
reptile  will  turn  when  trodden  on,  that  the  most  timid 
beast  will  defend  itself  if  no  way  of  escape  remains. 
In  those  days  political  assassination  was  regarded 
as  one  of  the  ordinary  resources  of  statecraft,  and, 
when  we  remember  that  even  two  generations  later 
the  chivalrous  Montrose  advised  Charles  I.  to  get 
rid  in  this  way  of  Hamilton  and  Argyle,  we  must 
allow  that  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  an  un- 
doubted traitor,  too  stout  to  be  dealt  with  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  law,  can  scarcely  be  accounted  a 
crime.  Yet  it  was  accompanied  by  dramatic  circum- 
stances which  have  impressed  the  imagination  of 
posterity.  The  shivering,  frightened  King,  rising  in 
the  black  winter  night,  to  prepare  the  death  of  his 
accomplice  in  a  far  bloodier  scene  of  midnight 
slaughter  ;  his  long  suspense  after  he  had  placed  his 
guards  in  the  narrow  passage  through  which  the 
Duke  must  pass  when  summoned  from  the  Council 
Chamber  to  his  presence  ;  the  meeting  of  the  Coun- 
cil in  the  gray  rainy  December  twilight ;  the  mur- 
derous scuffle  heard  by  the  old  Queen  who  lay  on 
her  death-bed  below ;  all  this  has  been  often  de- 
scribed. Guise  in  his  death  struggle  dragged  himself 
and  his  assailants  as  far  as  the  King's  room.  It  was 
told  that  there,  as  Guise  sixteen  years  before  had 
spurned  the  murdered  Admiral,  so  Henry  now  kicked 
the  corpse  of  his  enemy,  saying,  as  was  noted  by 
those    who  were    curious    in    omens    and    in    other 


mmi^^lr?    S 


DUKE   HENRY  OF  GUISE. 
From  the  painting   by   F.   Clouet. 


15891  The  Three  Henrys.  171 

obscure  suggestions  of  the  future,  "  He  seems  even 
greater  dead  than  alive." 

The  Duke's  brother,  the  Cardinal  of  Guise,  the 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  Espinac,  author  of  the  Ga- 
veston,  a  scurrilous  libel  in  which  Epernon  and  his 
master  were  compared  to  Edward  II.  of  England 
and  his  favourite,  together  with  the  old  Cardinal  of 
Bourbon,  were  arrested  in  the  Council  Chamber  and 
other  leaders  of  the  League  on  the  same  day,  but  of 
these  only  the  Cardinal  of  Guise  was  put  to  death. 

The  King's  first  visit  was  to  the  Queen-Mother. 
He  told  her  triumphantly  that  at  length  he  was 
King  of  France,  for  he  had  killed  the  King  of  Paris. 
She  said  :  ''  You  have  cut  boldly  into  the  stuff,  my 
son,  but  will  you  know  how  to  sew  it  together?" 

Henry  III.  was  indeed  much  mistaken  in  sup- 
posing that  the  death  of  the  Duke  would  make 
him  King  of  France — he  was  soon  in  danger  of  be- 
ing  little  more  than  King  of  Blois.  Yet,  had  he 
acted  vigorously,  it  is  possible  that  his  position  might 
have  been  improved  by  the  bold  stroke  he  had 
ventured. 

\He  should  have  justified  himself  by  some  solemn 
form  of  judicial  inquiry.  This  he  might  easily  have 
done,  for  the  treason  of  Guise  was  patent.  He 
should  have  appealed  to  the  loyalty  of  his  nobles, 
recalled  Epernon  and  his  soldiers  and  taken  the  field 
at  the  head  of  his  army.  Even  had  he  done  so,  the 
grief  and  fury  excited  among  the  popular  and  fanati- 
cal section  of  the  League  by  the  death  of  their  idol 
might  have  stirred  them  to  a  resistance  which  he 
could  only  have  overcome  by  the  help  of  the  Protes- 


1 72  Henry  of  Navarre.  [i585 

tants :  but  he  showed  no  vigour.  He  remained  at 
Blois  trying  to  persuade  the  Estates  to  be  reason- 
able, seeking  to  conciHate  when  concihation  was  im- 
possible, and  by  the  release  of  Brissac  and  other 
violent  partisans  gave  leaders  to  his  rebels.' 

In  Paris  the  news  of  the  assassination  of  Guise 
produced  an  uncontrollable  outburst  of  sorrow  and 
passion.  The  tidings  reached  the  town  on  Christmas 
Eve.  At  once  all  signs  of  rejoicing  and  festivity 
disappeared.  The  churches  were  thronged  with 
mourning  crowds,  who  listened  to  funeral  chants 
unaccompanied  by  music,  which  took  the  place  of 
the  cheerful  services  appointed  for  the  most  joyful  of 
Christian  festivals.  The  preachers  did  their  best  to 
raise  the  contagious  emotions  of  the  people  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  fury.  They  denounced  in  unmeas- 
ured terms  the  treacherous  murderer,  the  Ahab,  the 
impure  Herod,  the  Judas  possessed  not  by  one  but 
by  lo.cxx)  devils,  to  whom  they  would  no  longer 
give  the  name  of  king.  The  Sorbonne  (Jan,  17, 
1589)  solemnly  declared  that,  owing  to  his  manifold 
crimes,  the  subjects  of  Henry  HI.  were  released 
from  their  allegiance.  The  Parliament  attempted 
to  resist,  by  continuing  to  administer  justice  in  the 
King's  name,  but  the  more  obstinate  magistrates 
were  thrown  into  the  Bastille,  and  the  more  pliant 
compelled  to  make  common  cause  with  the  munici- 
pality and  with  the  Council  which  had  been  appointed 
to  carry  on  the  government  in  the  name  of  the  Holy 
Catholic  Union. 

The  Duke  of  Mayenne,  the  eldest  surviving  brother 
of  Guise,  presided,  with  the  style    of   Lieutenant- 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  173 

General  of  the  Realm  and  Crown  of  France,  over 
this  Council,  which  was  composed  of  the  most 
important  Catholic  nobles,  of  some  of  the  most 
prominent  preachers  and  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne, 
of  a  few  members  of  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  of 
representatives  of  the  city  of  Paris  and  of  the  other 
towns  which  adhered  to  the  League.  For  the 
example  of  Paris  had  been  followed  by  many  other 
great  cities — Rouen,  Amiens,  Abbeville,  Troyes  and 
Rheims,  Toulouse,  Orleans,  almost  the  whole  of 
Burgundy,  Brittany  and  Provence,  besides  numerous 
towns  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  refused  any 
longer  to  recognise  the  King's  authority.  On  all 
sides  he  saw  his  power  crumbling  away.  Mayenne 
contemptuously  rejected  all  overtures.  He  would 
not  give  Henry  of  Valois  the  title  of  King.  He  was, 
he  said,  a  miserable  wretch,  in  whose  promises  it  was 
impossible  to  place  any  further  confidence.  As  the 
fanatics  were  irreconcilably  hostile  and  his  own 
unsupported  strength  was  unequal  to  the  unavoid- 
able conflict,  the  King  could  no  longer  hesitate  to 
accept  the  help  offered  to  him  by  Henry  of  Navarre. 
The  small  advantage  reaped  from  the  victory  of 
Coutras,  the  discouragement  of  his  German  allies  by 
the  destruction  of  the  forces  they  had  levied,  the  ill- 
temper  of  the  Queen  of  England,  who  complained 
that  her  subsidies  had  been  wasted,  the  dread, 
common  to  all  Protestants,  of  some  fatal  blow  to  be 
dealt  to  the  Cause  by  the  mighty  armament  collect- 
ing in  the  Spanish  ports,  the  jealousy  of  the 
Princes  of  his  family,  the  disunion  among  his  fol- 
lowers, and,  lastly,  the  complete  submission,   as  it 


1 74  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

seemed,  of  the  King  to  their  common  enemies,  had 
severely  tried  even  the  serene  and  persistent  self- 
confidence  of  Henry  of  Bourbon.  "  The  devil  is 
loose,"  he  wrote  in  March,  1588,  to  his  Corisande. 
"  I  am  indeed  to  be  pitied,  and  it  is  a  wonder  that 
I  do  not  sink  under  my  load.  If  I  were  not  Hugue- 
not I  should  turn  Turk.  Oh,  by  what  violent  trials 
my  head  is  racked  !  This  year  will  be  my  touch- 
stone ;  I  must  assuredly  either  become  mad  or  turn 
out  a  clever  man."  But  such  moods  of  doubt  and 
depression  did  not  last  long.  Two  years  before  he 
had  written  that  his  own  head  was  the  best  part  of 
his  Council,  and  that  his  judgment  was  rarely  at 
fault ;  and  although  we  must  allow  some  credit  to 
his  advisers,  and  above  all  to  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  the 
skill  with  which  he  steered  through  the  dangers  of 
this  crisis  justify  the  boast. 

In  the  field  he  maintained  his  reputation  as  a 
skilful  captain  and  fearless  soldier.  When,  in  No- 
vember, 1588,  the  representatives  of  the  Huguenot 
Churches  met  at  La  Rochelle,  a  tone  of  manlier 
resolution  may  well  have  been  given  to  their  delib- 
erations by  the  sight  of  the  standards  taken  from  the 
enemy,  which  decorated  the  roof  of  the  hall  in  which 
they  met. 

The  death  of  Conde,  March  5,  1588,  who  perished 
the  victim  of  a  domestic  crime,  in  which  his  wife 
Charlotte  de  la  Tr^moille  was  implicated,  freed 
Henry  from  a  rival  in  the  affections  of  his  party  and 
from  comparisons  not  always  to  his  advantage.  > 

The  King  of  Navarre  sincerely  lamented  his 
cousin.     "  One  of  the  greatest  misfortunes  possible 


1589] 


The  Three  Henrys.  i  7^ 


has  befallen  me,"  he  wrote  to  his  mistress,  "  the 
sudden  death  of  the  Prince.  They  have  poisoned 
him,  the  miscreants  ...  a  wicked  woman  is 
a  dangerous  beast,"  yet,  he  added,  he  lamented 
rather  what  his  cousin  ought  to  have  been  to  him, 
than  what  he  had  been.  He  had  discovered  a  new 
plot  to  take  his  own  life.  These  murderers  were  all 
Papists,  and  he  hoped  that  Corisande  would  abandon 
a  religion  which  brought  forth  such  fruits.  To  his 
Chaplain  he  wrote:  "What  a  miserable  age  this  is, 
which  produces  monsters  who,  though  assassins, 
think  to  be  held  men  of  honour  and  virtue." 

Though  the  Assembly  at  La  Rochelle  passed  some 
useful  measures,  it  was  by  no  means  to  the  taste  of 
the  Protector  of  the  Churches.  He  bore  with  char- 
acteristic patience  the  exhortations  of  the  ministers 
that  he  should  amend  the  irregularities  of  his  private 
life  ;  but  he  warmly  resented  the  criticism  of  his 
public  policy,  and  the  proposal  of  some  to  place 
the  French  Protestants  under  the  protection  of  the 
Elector  Palatine  :  and  did  not  conceal  his  displeasure 
at  the  appointment  of  a  permanent  Council  consist- 
ing of  princes  and  nobles  and  of  representatives  of 
the  general  and  provincial  synods.  "  If  there  is  to 
be  another  meeting,"  he  complained,  "  I  shall  go 
stark  mad.  But,  thank  God,  all  is  ended  and  well 
ended." 

The  Assembly  had  scarcely  dispersed,  and  Henry 
was  collecting  his  troops  for  a  winter  campaign, 
when  the  news  came  of  the  assassination  of  Guise. 
Although  Aubign^  professes  that  the  Huguenot  gen- 
try loudly  lamented  the  treachery  of  which  he  had 


I  "jd  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

been  the  victim,  extolling  the  virtues  of  the  dead 
and  the  courtesies  which  many  had  received  from 
him,  yet  the  general  feeling  was  one  of  relief  and 
exultation.  "  How  many  men,"  Du  Plessis-Mornay 
exclaimed,  "  have  been  overthrown  in  this  one  man ! 
How  many  battles  won,  and  towns  taken  !  How 
many  years  compressed  into  one  morning ;  how 
many  poor  souls  raised  up  and  churches  restored  !  " 
To  his  master  he  wrote  that  it  was  a  signal  mercy, 
that  without  staining  his  hands  he  should  have  been 
avenged  on  his  enemy.  He  had,  however,  better  do 
nothing  rashly.  It  was  well  to  sleep  a  night  on  so 
great  an  event. 

The  King  of  Navarre  exulted  in  less  seemly 
fashion.  If,  in  addition  to  this  good  news,  he  might 
only  hear  that  his  wife  had  been  strangled  and  that 
her  mother  was  dead,  then,  he  said,  he  would  have 
every  reason  to  sing  the  song  of  Simeon. 

Meantime,  he  followed  the  advice  of  Mornay  and 
carried  on  the  war  with  vigour,  till  he  was  suddenly 
attacked  by  a  pleurisy  so  severe  that  his  life  was  in 
danger.  The  Huguenots  were  in  despair,  valuing 
their  leader  more  highly  now  that  they  feared  he 
might  be  taken  from  them,  and  touched  by  the  con- 
solation which  he  sought  and  found  in  the  singing 
of  psalms  and  edifying  conversation.  But  the  inac- 
tion to  which  he  was  reduced  was  not  inconvenient. 
He  was  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  taking  any 
decided  step  before  he  could  well  judge  what  was 
likely  to  be  the  future  course  of  events. 
'  Du  Plessis-Mornay  urged  his  master  to  hasten  to 
the  assistance  of  Henry  III.     Chatillon  was  equally 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  177 

eager  to  bring  about  a  satisfactory  understanding 
with  the  RoyaHsts.  The  sternest  Huguenots  could 
scarcely  murmur  at  being  called  upon  to  help  a 
prince  so  deeply  stained  with  the  blood  of  their 
brethren,  when  they  saw  the  heir  of  the  murdered 
Admiral  sacrificing  his  resentment  to  the  welfare  of 
his  country.  The  Protestants  and  the  Royalists  had 
the  same  interests  and  the  same  enemies.  It  was  not, 
therefore,  difficult,  when  sentimental  obstacles  were 
laid  aside,  for  them  to  come  to  an  understanding. 
A  truce  was  concluded  for  a  year,  during  which  the 
King  of  Navarre  engaged  to  employ  his  forces 
"only  by  consent  or  command  of  His  Majesty." 
Saumur,  a  strong  fortress,  commanding  the  passage 
of  the  Loire,  and  one  town  in  each  province  were  to 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Reformers  for  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion  and  as  a  pledge  of  the 
King's  sincerity.  ; 

Henry  of  Bourbon  advanced  to  the  banks  of  the 
Loire  with  a  small  but  veteran  army — 5,000  infantry, 
500  horse,  and  500  musketeers.  The  good  economy 
of  Mornay  had  enabled  him  to  pay  his  troops,  and 
therefore  to  maintain  a  discipline  which  contrasted 
most  favourably  with  the  savage  licence  of  the 
Leaguers.  The  Champions  of  Catholicism  were  not 
less  terrible  to  the  orthodox  than  to  heretics.  The 
churches  were  often  the  scene  of  their  vilest  ex- 
cesses. They  derided  the  holiest  mysteries  of  their 
faith,  and  trod  under  foot  the  consecrated  Host, 
the  Body,  as  they  professed  to  believe,  of  their 
Redeemer. 

When  the  soldiers  of  Mayenne  first  saw  the  uni- 


1 78  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1585- 

form  of  the  Protestants  among  the  ranks  of  their 
opponents,  they  shouted  to  them  —  "Back,  white 
scarves  ;  back,  Chatillon  ;  it  is  not  you  who  are  our 
enemies,  but  the  murderer  of  your  father,  the  traitor 
King,  who  has  betrayed  you  once  and  will  betray 
you  again  !  "  But  Chatillon  replied  that  they  were 
rebels  and  traitors  to  their  country,  and  that,  when 
the  service  of  his  Prince  and  of  the  Commonwealth 
was  concerned,  he  cast  under  foot  all  thought  of 
private  interest  and  wrong. 

When  this  was  told  to  Henry  III.  he  praised  him, 
and  ever  after  treated  him  with  the  greatest  favour, 
and  would,  it  was  thought,  had  he  lived,  have  ad- 
vanced him  marvellously.  So,  at  least,  Chatillon 
himself  believed,  for  he  was  grievously  afflicted  at 
the  King's  assassination,  and  said  that  he  had  lost 
his  good  master  and  all  hope  of  prosperity  in  this 
world.  His  friends  pointed  out  that  after  all  Henry 
HI.  had  compassed  his  father's  death,  and  that  he 
might  reasonably  hope  for  more  favour  from  Henry 
IV.,  to  which  he  replied  :  "  What  you  say  is  true. 
Yet  be  assured  that  the  late  King  would  have 
acknowledged  and  rewarded  my  services,  while  this 
one  will  rather  abase  me  for  serving  him." 

The  King  of  Navarre  had  once  sworn  that  he 
would  never  again  enter  his  brother-in-law's  pres- 
ence, except  between  the  ranks  of  his  army.  Yet, 
although  warned  that  the  King  might  offer  his  head 
as  a  pledge  of  reconciliation  to  the  Catholics,  he 
accepted  an  invitation  to  an  interview  in  the  park  of 
Plessis  les  Tours.  In  the  midst  of  a  great  and  joy- 
ful crowd  which  had  assembled  to  see  the  meeting 


1589]  The  Three  Henrys.  1 79 

of  the  Kings,  Henry  of  Bourbon  threw  himself  on 
his  knees  before  Henry  of  Valois,  who  hastened  to 
prevent  him  with  repeated  embraces. 
'  It  was  observed  by  the  spectators  that  the  King 
of  France  excelled  in  grace  and  dignity  ;  but  the 
vivacity,  the  soldierly  bearing  and  the  genial  frank- 
ness of  the  King  of  Navarre  won  the  favour  of  the 
people.  He  was  in  appearance  the  perfect  type  of 
the  well-born,  hardy,  adventurous  and  restless  Gascon 
soldier  of  fortune  ;  but  there  was  also  something 
about  him  of  a  crafty  Ulysses  who  had  seen  the  cities 
and  evil  manners  of  many  men.  He  was  of  small 
but  active  and  wiry  make,  with  strongly  marked  ex- 
pressive and  mobile  features,  piercing  eyes,  equally 
ready  to  laugh,  to  frown  or  to  weep,  surrounded  by 
careful  and  cunning  wrinkles',  and  glancing  from 
under  highly  arched  ironical  eyebrows  ;  the  long  sen- 
sual nose  of  Francis  I.,  but  less  villainous  and  more 
aquiline,  drooping  over  a  pointed  chin,  his  hair  thick 
and  curly  though  prematurely  grey — bleached,  he 
used  to  say,  by  the  breath  of  adversity — his  short 
beard  hiding  a  closely  shut  mouth.  His  dress  was  a 
brown  velvet  doublet,  worn  on  the  shoulders  by  his 
breastplate  ;  he  was  only  distinguished  from  his  fol- 
lowers by  his  scarlet  cloak  and  by  the  white  plume 
fastened  to  his  grey  felt  hat  by  a  costly  brooch. 
What  more  complete  contrast  could  be  imagined  to 
the  effeminate  graces  of  the  last  Valois? 

"  The  ice  has  been  broken,"  Henry  wrote  to  Mor- 
nay,  "  in  spite  of  many  warnings  that  if  I  went  I  was 
a  dead  man.  When  I  crossed  the  river  I  committed 
myself  to  God,  who  in   His  mercy  has  not  only  pre- 


i8o  Henry  of  Navarre.  [isss- 

served  me,  but  caused  the  King  to  show  extreme 
joy."  "You  have  done,  Sire,"  was  the  reply,  "what 
it  was  right  for  you  to  do,  but  what  none  should  have 
ventured  to  advise  you  to  do." 

(  The  reconciliation  of  the  King  with  the  Protestants 
was  far  from  displeasing  to  the  Politicians  and  mod- 
erate Catholics.  They  gladly  acquiesced  in  a  policy 
which  implied  toleration,  enmity  to  the  League  and 
a  vigorous  opposition  to  the  patron  and  master  of  it, 
the  King  of  Spain.  The  League  in  the  meantime  was 
daily  becoming  more  hateful  to  a  majority  of  the 
nation.  At  Paris  it  rested  on  the  support  of  the 
lower  classes,  who  were  propitiated  by  an  exemption 
from  the  obligation  to  pay  their  rent, — a  communis- 
tic measure  of  confiscation  odious  to  the  middle  class.^ 
In  Normandy  the  Catholic  leader,  Brissac,  had  made 
common  cause  with  an  agrarian  rising  of  the  peas- 
antry,— a  sure  method  of  alienating  the  sympathies  of 
the  landowners.  While  all  who  were  less  Romanists 
and  Guisards  than  Frenchmen  were  disgusted  by  the 
ever  growing  subservience  to  Philip  IL  The  Spanish 
envoy  Mendoza,  whose  insolence  and  love  of  intrigue 
had  caused  first  Elizabeth  and  then  Henry  IIL  to 
refuse  to  tolerate  him  at  their  Courts,  enjoyed  greater 
authority  in  the  Council  of  the  Union  than  Mayenne 
himself,  who  apologised  humbly  to  the  Escurial,  on 
the  plea  of  haste  and  urgency,  for  accepting  the 
authority  conferred  upon  him,  without  the  previous 
permission  of  the  King  of  Spain. 

(  The  Royalists  and  the  Protestants  flocked  to  the 
army  of  the  two  Kings ;  they  were  joined  by  a 
poweiful  body  of  Swiss,  enlisted  by  the  Protestant 


1589] 


The  Three  Henrys.  i8i 


cantons,  and  were  soon  able  to  advance  upon  and 
threaten  Paris.)  Nothing  had  been  neglected  which 
might  arouse  enthusiasm  or  coerce  and  crush  any- 
growing  spirit  of  moderation  among  the  citizens, — 
frantic  and  sanguinary  sermons,  processions  of  men, 
of  women,  of  relics.  Four  thousand  children  were 
paraded  through  the  streets  with  torches  in  their 
hands,  singing  the  "  Dies  Irae."  As  they  halted 
before  the  churches  they  turned  the  torches  to  the 
ground,  stamped  on  them  with  their  feet  and  cried, 
"  Thus  may  God  quench  the  House  of  Valois." 
Wonderful  tales  were  told  of  the  crimes  and  cruelty 
of  the  King,  of  his  determination  to  glut  his  revenge 
on  his  rebellious  Capital.  All  who  were  suspected  of 
being  Royalists  were  imprisoned  or  watched  with 
malevolent  suspicion.  The  slightest  symptom  of  dis- 
affection was  punished  by  fine  and  imprisonment, 
frequently  by  death.  A  servant  accused  her  mistress 
of  having  laughed  on  Ash  Wednesday ;  the  charge 
was  sufficient  to  endanger  the  life,  not  of  the  lady 
only,  but  of  her  whole  family.  Yet  without  large 
and  immediate  assistance  from  the  Spaniards,  Paris 
could  not  be  held  against  the  overwhelming  forces 
of  the  kings  of  France  and  Navarre,  The  day  for 
the  assault  was  already  fixed.  The  respectable  citi- 
zens, disgusted  by  the  licence  of  the  mob,  the  ruin  of 
trade  and  the  prospect  of  famine,  desired  at  least  as 
much  as  they  feared  the  entrance  of  the  King.  The 
monks,  students  and  paupers,  whatever  their  zeal, 
would  be  no  match  for  the  Swiss  and  for  the  veterans 
of  Epernon  and  Navarre. 

But  although  the  devotion  of  many  to  the  Catho- 


1 82  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599 

lie  cause  had  cooled,  popular  passion,  as  is  often  the 
case,  became  incarnate  in  an  individual,  entered  into 
and  took  possession  of  him. 

Jacques  Clement  was  a  Burgundian  monk,  ignor- 
ant, violent  and  fanatical ;  encouraged  by  his  superiors 
he  determined  to  strike  down  the  murderer  of  the 
champion  of  the  Church,  the  ally  of  heretics,  the  per- 
secutor of  God's  people.  No  means  were  neglected 
which  might  raise  his  enthusiasm  to  the  highest  pitch. 
He  was  introduced  to  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier, 
perhaps  to  other  leaders  of  the  League,  who  promised 
him  all  that  could  tempt  the  ambition  of  a  friar  in 
this  world  and  the  next. 

He  executed  his  purpose  with  the  deliberate  sim- 
plicity and  success  of  a  man  too  much  in  earnest,  or 
too  stupid,  to  be  distracted  by  any  apprehension  of 
consequences  to  himself  or  others. 

The  assassination  of  Henry  HI.  saved  Paris.  The 
Duchess  of  Montpensier  fell  on  the  neck  of  the  mes- 
senger who  brought  her  the  tidings  of  the  King's 
death ;  the  townspeople  gave  way  to  transports  of 
unreasoning  joy.  The  assassin  was  honoured  as  a 
saint  and  as  a  martyr,  his  image  and  those  of  the 
two  Guises  were  placed  on  the  altars  of  the  churches 
and  received  the  adoration  of  the  faithful. 


CHAPTER    V. 


CAN   A   HERETIC    BE   KING    OF   FRANCE? 


I  589-1  592. 


wwHfrmiwWHWfminniB 


HE  death  of  the  last  Valois,  worthless 
man  and  weak  King  though  he  was, 
appeared  a  most   serious  calamity  to 
the   few   statesmen   whose   love    for 
their  country  was   not  obscured   by 
the  spirit  of  faction  or  fanaticism. 
Three  parties  in  the  state  had  a  clear  conception 
of  their  own  aims  and  were  prepared  to  bestir  them- 
selves to  attain  those  aims. 

These  were  first  the  Romanist  and  Spanish  party, 
composed  of  men  who,  sooner  than  that  France 
should  cease  to  be  orthodox,  were  prepared  to  sacri- 
fice her  national  existence. 

Secondly,  there  was  the  faction  of  Lorraine,  the 
Guises  and  their  adherents  devoted,  under  the  pre- 
text of  religion,  to  the  aggrandisement  of  their 
House. 

And  thirdly,  the  Huguenots  who  wished  to  over- 
throw the  religious  system  hitherto  accepted  by  the 

X83 


184  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

nation,  or,  at  the  least,  to  destroy  the  connection 
between  Church  and  State^ 

Besides  these  the  many  princes  and  nobles  who 
sought  only  to  advance  their  own  personal  fortunes, 
to  become  hereditary  rulers  in  their  governments, 
whether  of  province,  town  or  castle,  knew  clearly 
what  they  wanted.  Believing  and  even  hoping,  that 
the  ship  of  the  state  was  breaking  up,  each  tried  to 
possess  himself  of  some  fragment ;  but  these  selfish 
wreckers  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  had  a  policy. 
The  great  majority  of  the  nation  were  indeed  con- 
scious of  the  evils  under  which  they  were  suffering, 
but  stood  hesitating  and  uncertain  by  what  means 
they  might  be  remedied. 

j_  Henry  of  Bourbon  was  the  lineal  descendant  of 
St.  Lewis,  but  for  ten  generations  none  of  his  ances- 
tors in  the  male  line  had  sat  on  the  French  throne. 
He  was  the  champion  and  leader  of  a  violent  minor- 
ity ;  if  he,  a  heretic,  was  enabled  by  the  swords  of 
his  Huguenots  and  by  virtue  of  strict  legitimist 
principles  to  establish  his  claim  to  the  throne,  this 
would  be  the  triumph  of  one,  and  that  the  least 
popular,  of  the  three  existing  constitutional  theories"^ 

It  was  only  a  minority,  chiefly  composed  of  law- 
yers, who  asserted  that  indefeasible  hereditary  right 
must,  under  all  circumstances,  determine  the  descent 
of  the  Crown. 

The  principle  of  ultimate  popular  sovereignty, 
that  the  King  derives  his  power,  if  not  from  election, 
at  least  from  the  consent  of  the  people,  historically 
true  of  the  earlier  Capetian  monarchy,  and  never 
wholly  forgotten,  had  been  recently  revived,  mainly 


i592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      185 

by  the  Huguenot  writers.  The  greater  part  of  the 
Catholic  clergy  and  many  of  the  laity  believed  in  the 
indissoluble  connection  of  Church  and  State.  In  their 
eyes  the  title  of  the  "Very  Christian  King "  de- 
pended on  his  coronation  and  unction  with  the 
miraculous  oil  at  Rheims.  It  could  hardly  therefore 
be  expected  that  the  conservative  and  personal 
feeling  which  had  attached  the  majority  of  the 
nobility  and  of  the  magistracy  to  Henry  III.  would 
be  transferred  to  Henry  IV. 

I  On  hearing  of  the  attempt  on  the  King's  life, 
Navarre  had  hurried  from  his  quarters  at  Meudon 
to  the  bedside  of  Henry  III.  at  St.  Cloud.  Holding 
his  successor's  hand  the  dying  man  had  said  to  the 
nobles  who  were  thronging  the  room,  "  I  beg  you 
as  my  friends,  and  command  you  as  your  King,  to 
recognise  my  brother  here  after  my  death."  Upon 
which  all  present  had  with  many  protestations 
pledged  their  faith  to  Henry  of  Bourbon.^ 

But  all  was  changed  when  sixteen  hours  later  he 
again  came  to  the  royal  quarters.  He  was  received 
as  their  liege  lord  by  the  officers  of  the  household, 
but  in  the,chamber  of  death  he  found  the  corpse 
watched  by  two  friars  and  many  courtiers,  who,  after 
a  scanty  salute,  gathered  in  knots  with  scowling 
faces  and  angry  gestures,  loudly  protesting  to  each 
other  that  they  would  rather  die  a  hundred  deaths 
than  serve  a  heretic  master. 

D'O,  a  man  of  the  vilest  reputation,  who,  by  the 
ignominy  of  a  "  mignon  "  and  the  arts  of  a  swindler, 
had  earned  the  office  of  minister  of  finance,  whose 
shameless  prodigality  was  supported  by  an  insatiable 


1 86  Henry  of  Navarre.  ii589- 

rapacity,  had  the  effrontery  to  present  himself  before 
Henry,  as  the  spokesman  of  those  whose  tender  con- 
science would  not  allow  them  to  acknowledge  an 
unorthodox  Prince.  If  he  would  at  once  abjure 
his  heresy  and  engage  not  to  confer  of^ce  on  any 
Huguenot,  then  they  were  prepared  to  be  his  obedi- 
ent subjects. 

But  Henry,  who  had  found  time  to  consult  some 
of  his  most  trusted  advisers,  though  paling  with 
anger,  restrained  his  indignation  and  returned  a 
politic  as  well  as  spirited  answer.  "  Would  they 
take  him  by  the  throat  in  the  first  moment  of  his 
accession,  and  forgetting  the  oath  which  they  had 
sworn  but  a  few  hours  before  t6  their  murdered 
master,  seek  to  compel  him  to  a  compliance  which 
so  many  simple  folk  had  been  able  to  refuse,  because 
they  knew  how  to  die?  Who  but  a  man  entirely 
without  religion  would  change  his  faith  in  such 
fashion?  Would  they  prefer  an  atheist  for  King? 
or  to  be  led  on  the  day  of  battle  by  a  man  without 
any  fear  of  God  ?  He  was  ready — as  he  had  always 
been — to  receive  instruction  from  a  council  of  the 
Church,  and  meantime  would  refuse  r|(Ji|-easonable 
pledges  to  the  Catholics  ;  although  his  fiast  treat- 
ment of  them  was  the  best  guarantee  for  the  future." 

He  had  scarcely  spoken  when  Givry,  one  of  the 
most  gallant  of  the  late  King's  officers,  who  had 
been  serjt  to  sound  the  disposition  and  to  secure  the 
adhesion  of  the  camp,  came  in  and  clasping  the 
King's  knee,  said  "  in  his  pleasant  way,  "  "  I  have 
seen,  Sire,  the  flower  of  your  brave  gentry.  They 
are  impatiently  awaiting  your  commands.     You  are 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      187 

the  King  of  all  brave  men — none  but  cowards  will 
desert  you." 

Almost  at  the  same  moment  Sancy  introduced  the 
forty  captains  of  the  Swiss  companies  who  had  come 
to  kiss  the  King's  hand  and  to  offer  their  services. 
Sancy  was  renowned  as  a  skilful  diplomatist,  but  he 
had  never  given  a  more  striking  proof  of  his  ability, 
nor  one  more  useful  to  his  country  than  by  now  per- 
suading these  mercenaries  so  far  to  abandon  their 
native  prudence  as  to  promise  to  serve  the  King  of 
France  three  months  on  credit.  Henry  embraced 
him  and  grasped  the  hands  of  the  Swiss  leaders ;  to 
them,  he  said,  he  should  owe  his  throne. 

The  Marshal  Biron,  who  of  all  the  Royalist  cap- 
tains had  the  greatest  military  reputation  and  most 
authority  with  the  army,  reproached  Sancy  for  his 
too  great  zeal.  "  I  thought  you,"  he  said,  "  a  wise 
man,  but  you  are  doing  your  best  to  spoil  a  good 
opportunity  of  making  our  fortunes."  But  the 
promise  of  the  county  of  Perigord  and  of  other 
bribes  to  his  insatiable  greed  and  vanity,  induced 
Biron  not^anly  to  undertake  to  serve  the  King  him- 
self, but  alio  to  act  as  a  mediator  between  him  and 
the  malcoi)tents. 

The  result  of  this  negotiation  was  that,  ten  days 
later  (August  4th),  Henry  signed  a  declaration  in 
which  he  solemnly  undertook  to  maintain  free  from 
all  innovations  the  Catholic,  Apostolic  and  Roman 
faith,  to  submit  himself  to  the  instruction  of  a 
general  or  national  council  within  six  months  if 
possible,  to  deprive  none  of  the  dignities  and  offices 
they  had  held  under  the  late  King,  to  appoint  no 


1 88  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

Protestants  during  the  next  six  months  to  any  vacant 
dignity  or  office  and  to  grant  to  the  Huguenots  no 
privileges  of  worship  or  other  advantages  to  which 
they  were  not  already  entitled  by  the  treaties  and 
edicts  of  Henry  HI.  In  return  for  these  conces- 
sions, the  majority  of  the  Catholic  nobles  consented 
to  recognise  him  as  their  King. 

Yet  the  royal  army  began  to  melt  away.  Epernon 
left  the  camp  with  7,000  men  ;  he  professed  that  he 
could  do  the  King  better  service  in  his  governments 
of  Saintonge  and  Angoumois.  His  intention  was 
to  watch  the  turn  of  events,  and  if  the  opportunity 
offered,  to  establish  himself  as  an  independent  ruler. 
Many  other  nobles  followed  his  example. 

It  was  perhaps  the  hope  that  he  might  succeed  the 
King  of  Navarre  in  the  protectorate  of  the  Churches 
which  made  the  Duke  of  Thouars  (la  Tremoille) 
hurry  back  to  his  fiefs  in  the  Protestant  districts  of 
the  South-west.  The  Gascon  and  Poitevin  Hugue- 
nots who  followed  him  might  with  more  reason  ex- 
cuse their  departure  by  the  state  of  destitution  in 
which  they  found  themselves. 

(Soon  the  royal  army  was  reduced  fo  half  its 
numbers,  while  that  of  the  League  was  constantly 
strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  Spanish  or  native 
reinforcements.  To  persist  in  remaining  before 
Paris  was  to  invite  disaster,  yet  the  retreat  of  the 
King  appeared  a  confession  of  weakness  and  encour- 
aged the  impression  that  he  would  be  no  match  for 
his  opponents.  The  League  not  only  held  Paris 
but  most  of  the  great  towns.  They  already  out- 
numbered the  King  in  the  field,  and  would  soon  be 


1592]      Ca7i  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      189 

joined  by  the  mercenaries  who  were  being  levied 
with  Spanish  and  Papal  money  in  Germany,  and  if 
these  did  not  suffice,  Philip  II.  promised  the  sup- 
port of  Parma's  invincible  veterans.  Henry  IV.,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  penniless,  even  his  Huguenots 
were  beginning  to  desert  him,  and  it  was  believed 
that  he  must  either  retire  south  of  the  Loire,  or  be 
driven  to  seek  a  refuge  at  the  court  of  his  ally  the 
Queen  of  England.  ^ 

But  in  truth  the  strength  of  the  League  was  more 
apparent  than  real.  That  it  became  more  and  more 
subservient  to  Philip  XL,  more  and  more  dependent 
on  Spanish  money  and  Spanish  soldiers,  was  at  once 
a  proof  and  a  cause  of  its  weakness.  Why,  if  it  was 
so  strong  and  popular,  was  it  compelled  to  rely  on 
foreign  support  ?  Villeroy,  an  able  statesman,  though 
timid  to  the  verge  of  dishonesty,  and  who,  dismissed 
from  office  by  Henry  III.,  had  joined  Mayenne, 
wrote,  "  We  must  render  to  the  King  of  Spain  the 
credit  and  the  gratitude  due  for  our  existence." 
But  it  was  the  conviction  that  they  could  only  main- 
tain themselves  by  Spanish  help  which  made  him, 
and  all  the  less  fanatical  and  reckless  among  his  party, 
anxious  to  come  to  terms  with  the  legitimate  heir 
to  the  crown,  and  opponents  of  the  extreme  courses 
Avhich  made  a  future  reconciliation  more  difficult. 
Nor  was  there  any  agreement  on  other  points  among 
even  those  who  were  unanimous  in  inveterate  hos- 
tility to  Henry  of  Bourbon.  The  spurious  ultramon- 
tane democracy  of  the  great  towns  was  eager  only 
to  secure  the  re-establishment  of  Catholic  orthodoxy 
and  a   large   measure  of  local   independence.     The 


190  Henry  of  Navarre.  P5893 

leaders  of  this  party,  who  revered  in  PhiHp  II.  the 
champion  and  temporal  head  of  Romanism  and  the 
dispenser  of  the  treasures  of  the  New  World,  would 
willingly  have  thrown  the  Salic  law  overboard,  and  at 
once  have  recognised  the  Infanta  Clara  Eugenia 
(Isabella),  the  granddaughter  of  Henry  II.,  as  their 
Queen.  When  we  condemn  this  subservience  to 
Spain,  it  is  only  fair  to  remember  that  Artois, 
Franche  Comte  and  other  French-speaking  prov- 
inces among  the  dominions  of  the  Spanish  King,  en- 
joyed a  large  measure  of  provincial  independence 
and  did  not  feel  their  nationality  to  be  endangered. 
But  the  pretensions  of  Philip  II.  were  odious  to  the 
Guises  and  to  the  few  great  nobles  who  had  joined 
their  faction.  The  personal  government  of  the  Es- 
curial  would  not  be  compatible  with  the  feudal 
independence  which  it  was  hoped  to  re-establish, 
nor  was  the  House  of  Lorraine  struggling  to  snatch 
the  Crown  from  the  Bourbons  in  order  that  they 
might  place  it  on  the  head  of  the  Hapsburgs. 

The  Guises  themselves  were  not  united.  The  Duke 
of  Mayenne  was  jealous  of  the  rising  popularity  of 
his  nephew,  the  young  Duke  of  Guise.  He  could 
scarcely  venture  to  hope  for  the  Crown  himself,  and 
apparently  did  not  see  how  any  settlement  satisfac- 
tory to  his  ambition  could  as  yet  be  brought  about ; 
he  was  therefore  content  that  matters  should  drift  on, 
his  only  policy  was  to  prevent,  so  far  as  in  him  lay, 
every  definite  solution,  in  the  hope  of  profiting  by 
any,  as  yet,  unforeseen  chance. 

The  wholly  selfish  and  unpatriotic  aims  of  the 
leader  of  the  League  were  not  compensated  by  any 


tS92]      Ca7t  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  f     191 

exceptional  ability,  by  any  special  aptitude  for  the 
part  he  was  called  upon  to  play.  That  Mayenne 
should  have  been  praised,  even  by  Protestant  his- 
torians, for  probity  and  humanity,  that  he  should 
evidently  have  been  regarded  as  a  Prince  of  more 
than  average  virtue,  is  most  damning  testimony 
against  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  suspected 
of  more  than  one  murder,  not  to  mention  the  assas- 
sination with  his  own  sword  of  a  soldier  of  fortune 
who  had  dared  to  aspire  to  the  hand  of  his  step- 
daughter. He  was  cautious  and  prudent  both  in 
policy  and  in  war,  but  these  respectable  qualities  pre- 
vented him  from  venturing  to  seize  the  object  of  his 
ambition  when  it  was  perhaps  not  beyond  the  reach 
of  audacity,  and  did  not  fit  him  to  cope  with  the 
restless  and  daring  energy  of  his  opponent. 

It  was  also  fortunate  for  Henry  IV.  that  being 
unable  to  agree  in  the  settlement  of  the  succession, 
his  opponents  sought  to  postpone  the  difficulty  by 
proclaiming  the  old  Cardinal  of  Bourbon  King.  By 
so  doing  they  recognised  the  legitimacy  of  the  claim 
of  his  family  to  the  throne  and  set  up  as  the  rival  of 
the  undoubted  head  of  the  house  an  old  man,  nearly 
imbecile,  of  whom,  even  in  his  youth,  Calvin  had  said 
that  unless  quickened  with  wine  he  was  more  lumpish 
than  a  log,  and  that  he  might  well  be  mistaken  for  a 
wineskin  or  a  cask,  so  little  had  he  of  the  semblance 
of  a  human  being  ; — an  old  man,  moreover,  who,  at 
this  juncture,  was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his 
nephew. 

'  Although  the  League  held  the  Capital  and  many 
of    the  most  important  towns,  it    may  be  doubted 


192  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

whether  it  anywhere  commanded  the  hearty  alle- 
giance of  a  majority.  In  Paris  we  are  assured  a 
violent  minority  terrorised  the  loyal  and  law-abiding 
citizens  by  means  of  foreign  mercenaries  and  of  the 
rabble,  hired  by  the  doles  of  the  convents  and  the 
bribes  of  Spain,  j 

'  But  if  his  opponents  were  so  weak,  how  came  it 
that  so  long  and  doubtful  a  struggle  had  still  to  be 
waged  before  the  authority  of  Henry  IV.  was  univer- 
sally acknowledged  ?  The  King's  difficulties  were, 
we  shall  find,  due  not  so  much  to  the  strength  or 
statecraft  of  his  native  opponents  as  to  the  interven- 
tion of  Spain  and  to  the  want  of  loyalty  and  unanim- 
ity among  his  own  partisans,  and  perhaps  also  to  the 
misery  and  exhaustion  of  the  nation,  so  reduced  by 
suffering  that  it  lacked  the  strength  and  spirit  needed 
for  the  vigorous  effort  by  which  alone  it  could  throw 
off  the  maladies  under  which  it  was  perishing. . 

The  body  politic  appeared  to  have  reached  the  last 
stage  of  dissolution,  and  it  profited  but  little  that 
there  should  now  be  a  vigorous  will  at  the  centre  of 
the  government,  when  all  the  departments  of  state, 
the  nerves,  so  to  speak,  by  which  that  will  might 
have  set  the  limbs  in  motion,  were  paralysed  or  dis- 
ordered, and  those  limbs  themselves  wasted  and 
powerless  through  misery  and  privation  ;  when  the 
supplies  which  are  as  necessary  to  the  political,  as 
food  is  to  the  physical  organism,  were  either  not  to 
be  obtained,  or  if  obtained  were  diverted  from  their 
natural  and  wholesome  uses,  further  to  inflame  the 
peccant  humours. 

"  France,"  says  a  contemporary  poem,  "  is  like  a 


1592]      Cafi  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      195 

storm-tossed  vessel  surrounded  by  reefs  and  breakers, 
whose  crew  have  deserted  the  care  of  sails  and  helm 
to  turn  their  guns  upon  each  other.  Conquerors  or 
conquered,  the  most  they  can  hope  is  to  be  the  last  to 
perish  in  the  universal  wreck.  Her  cities  are  full  of 
injustice  and  violence;  the  just  judge  is  dragged  be- 
fore the  judgment  seat  of  the  criminal.  Yet  those 
who  in  walled  towns  snatch,  arms  in  hand,  a  pre- 
carious sleep  are  happy  compared  with  the  miserable 
country  folk.  All  that  the  earth  can  do  for  those 
who  taught  the  streams  to  water  her  green  fields  and 
enamel  them  with  flowers,  who  decked  her  with 
golden  harvest  and  purple  vintage,  is  to  offer  them  th^ 
shelter  of  her  forests,  the  covert  of  the  boar  and  the 
lair  of  the  wolf.  There  perhaps  they  may  escape  the 
soldiers,  who  to  compel  them  to  disclose  their  poor 
hoards,  their  only  resource  against  starvation,  sus- 
pend them  by  their  thumbs  with  cutting  cords,  or 
scorch  their  greased  and  naked  bodies  with  burning 
brands,  or  hang  by  the  feet  their  children,  torn  from 
the  breast.  .  .  .  Man  is  no  longer  a  man  when  he 
feeds  on  grass  and  roots,  on  raw  flesh  and  carrion, 
when  the  starving  children  gnaw  the  bark  of  the 
forests,  while  the  village  streets  are  the  abode  of 
wolves  and  foxes,  the  houses,  without  furniture,  doors 
or  windows,  bearing  mute  witness  to  the  crimes  that 
they  have  seen."  This  might  perhaps  be  thought 
poetic  rhetoric,  but  the  sober  lawyer,  L'Estoile,  is 
not  less  emphatic.  "  In  this  month  the  people  almost 
throughout  France  were  dying  of  famine  and  went  in 
bands  cutting  and  eating  the  unripe  ears   of  corn." 

"  In  this  month  companies  of  robbers  went  through 
13 


194  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

the  land  robbing  and  plundering  the  houses  of  gentry 
and  labourers  of  all  they  contained."  Such  are  the 
constant  entries  in  his  diary.  So  also  Villeroy  com- 
plains that  the  towns  which  were  rich  before  the  Civil 
Wars  had  now  become  desolate  and  poor;  that  there 
was  no  longer  any  justice  ;  the  magistrates  being  no 
longer  paid,  lived  in  constant  apprehension  and 
misery.  That  all  cities,  and  Paris  more  than  any, 
were  full  of  fear  and  discontent,  confusion,  faction 
and  poverty  ;  while  if  the  towns  were  wretched  no 
words  could  describe  the  misery  of  the  open  country, 
the  villages  deserted,  the  fields  fallow,  the  face  of  the 
earth  hideous  and  deformed. 

No  wonder  that  the  peasantry  were  beginning  to 
join  together  in  armed  bands,  for  those  who  had 
been  robbed  of  all  could  still  fashion  some  rude 
weapons  formidable  in  the  hands  of  despair,  and 
that  gentry  and  nobles  dreaded  a  revival  of  the 
Jacqueries  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 
\  Such,  however,  was  the  state  of  things  which  many 
among  the  King's  followers  were  anxious  to  perpetu- 
ate. So  long  as  the  war  lasted  and  his  authority  was 
disputed,  they  believed  that  they  could  extort  a  high 
price  for  their  services  and  immunity  for  their  crimes 
and  extortions."^ 

So  much  was  clear,  that  the  rule  of  Henry  of 
Bourbon  would  be  a  very  different  thing  from  that 
of  the  last  Valois, — that  it  would  at  least  be  a  real- 
ity. It  was  therefore  dreaded  by  all  those  who  had 
usurped  or  who  still  hoped  to  usurp  an  authority 
which  did  not  belong  to  them,  by  all  those  who  prof- 
ited by  abuses  and  irregularities  which  a  strong  gov- 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      195 

ernment  was  certain  to  check,  and  there  were  many 
such  among  the  nominal  adherents  of  the  King. 

Nevertheless  there  can  be  little  doubt  that,  with- 
out Spanish  intervention,  Henry  IV.  would  before 
long  have  overcome  the  obstacles  raised  by  the  open 
hostility  of  the  League,  and  by  the  treacherous 
jealousy  and  ill-will  of  his  own  followers.  Yet  that 
intervention,  although  it  protracted  the  struggle  in 
France,  is  not  to  be  regretted  by  Europe.  It  diverted 
from  the  Low  Countries  the  treasures  and  the  men 
which  might  have  enabled  Parma  to  complete  the 
subjugation  of  the  Dutch.  The  Spanish  invasion  of 
France  in  1590  postponed  for  two  years  Henry  IV's 
entry  into  his  capital,  but  it  gave  Maurice  of  Orange 
an  opportunity  and  a  sorely  needed  breathing  space. 

Breaking  up  his  camp  before  Paris  the  King  sent 
the  levies  of  Picardy  under  the  command  of  the 
Duke  of  Longueville,  and  accompanied  by  3,(X)0 
Swiss,  back  to  their  province,  and  the  Marshal  d'Au- 
mont  to  Champagne  with  the  same  number  of  Swiss 
and  the  gentry  of  that  district  ;  while  he  himself 
with  the  rest  of  his  forces, — some  10,500  men — 
marched  into  Normandy. 

He  wished  to  prevent  the  Leaguers  from  drawing 
money  and  supplies  from  the  wealthiest  province  of 
France,  to  confirm  the  loyalty  of  the  well-disposed 
nobility  and  governors,  to  determine  those  who  were 
wavering  and  by  threatening  Rouen  to  divert 
Mayenne  from  attacking  the  Royalist  garrisons 
round  Paris.  A  third  motive  was  the  necessity  of 
securing  a  port,  conveniently  situated,  for  keeping 
up  communications  with   England.     Elizabeth   had 


196  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589 

at  first  demanded  a  promise  to  cede  Calais  as  the 
price  of  effective  help,  but  Henry  IV.,  at  the  time 
of  his  utmost  necessity,  and  when  his  opponents 
were  bribing  the  King  of  Spain  and  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  by  hopes  of  the  partition  of  France,  refused 
to  cede  an  inch  of  French  territory,  and  the  English 
Queen,  with  more  than  usual  generosity,  had  with- 
out further  huckstering  promised  ample  assistance 
of  supplies  and  men. 

Many  of  the  Norman  towns  opened  their  gates  at 
the  King's  approach,  others  he  occupied  by  force. 
The  governor  of  Dieppe  had  been  among  the  first  to 
recognise  the  King's  authority.     (August  6,  1589.) 

Dieppe  was  the  wealthiest  and  most  prosperous 
of  the  Norman  ports.  The  tidal  harbour  was  safe 
and  convenient  for  the  largest  ships  which  at  that 
time  navigated  the  Channel.  The  population  of  the 
town,  composed  for  the  most  part  of  wealthy  traders, 
and  of  hardy  fishermen  and  sailors,  well  trained  in 
the  use  of  arms,  was  more  numerous  than  that 
which  now  brings  home  the  cod  of  Newfoundland 
and  the  herrings  of  the  North  Sea,  or  ministers  to 
the  wants  of  a  fashionable  crowd  of  summer  visitors. 

Of  the  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  inhabitants 
a  large  proportion  were  Protestants  :  while  the  Catho- 
lics among  the  rich  merchants  and  other  leading  men 
were  like  their  governor  determined  enemies  of  the 
League.  The  Spaniard  was  the  natural  enemy  and 
prey  of  the  seafaring  population  on  both  sides  of 
the  Channel.  The  fortifications  of  Dieppe  were 
strong  and  in  good  repair,  well  supplied  with  artil- 
lery   and    defended    by    a    garrison — including    the 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?       igf 

local  militia, — 6,000  strong,  all  well  drilled  and 
equipped  by  the  care  of  the  governor  and  the  liber, 
ality  of  the  townsmen. 

Towards  the  end  of  August  the  King  with  a  small 
escort  rode  from  his  camp  at  Darnetal,  three  miles 
from  Rouen,  to  Dieppe.  The  inhabitants  received 
him  with  enthusiastic  loyalty,  but  he  cut  short  the 
laboured  discourses  of  the  magistrates :  "  No  cere- 
mony, my  children  ;  I  only  want  your  love,  good 
wine,  good  bread  and  friendly  faces." 

Two  days  sufficed  to  confirm  the  zeal  of  the  citi- 
zens, to  inspect  the  fortifications  and  to  learn  the 
military  capabilities  of  the  neighbourhood.  Scarcely 
was  the  King  back  at  Darnetal  when  the  news  came 
that  Mayenne  was  on  the  march  from  Paris.  Eight 
hundred  thousand  gold  crowns  sent  by  Philip  II., 
and  the  contributions,  voluntary  or  forced,  of  the 
richer  citizens  had  enabled  him  to  collect  a  formida- 
ble army  of  25,000  foot  and  8,000  horse. 

He  boasted  that  he  would  soon  bring  back  "  M. 
de  B6arn,"  "  the  Gascon  heretic,"  or  drive  him  into 
the  sea,  and  the  more  fervent  and  credulous  of  his 
partisans  already  began  to  hire  windows  from  which 
to  view  his  triumphal  entry  into  the  Capital. 

It  would  have  been  madness  for  the  King  with  his 
small  army  to  have  awaited  the  attack  of  his  oppo- 
nent at  Darnetal,  with  the  great  and  hostile  town  of 
Rouen  in  his  rear.  He  therefore  fell  back  upon 
Dieppe,  where  he  could  face  his  enemies  and  await 
the  English,  Scotch  and  Dutch  succours  and  the 
approach  of  the  other  divisions  of  his  army  under 
Longueville  and  D'Aumont.     The  position  he  had 


198  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

chosen,  five  miles  from  Dieppe,  was  defended  by 
three  little  rivers,  by  woods  and  marshes  and  rested 
upon  the  village  and  castle  of  Arques.  The  zeal  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Dieppe,  who  turned  out  to  work, 
men,  women  and  children,  enabled  the  King  to 
strengthen  his  line  by  earthworks  and  by  an  en- 
trenched camp,  commanding  the  main  road  to 
Dieppe.  The  slow  and  cautious  approach  of  May- 
enne  gave  Henry  full  time  to  make  every  preparation 
that  prudence  could  suggest.  There  was  nothing  to 
which  he  did  not  himself  attend  ;  his  indefatigable 
activity  was  a  marvel  to  all — even  to  himself.  "  It 
is  a  wonder  that  I  am  alive,"  he  wrote  to  Mme.  de 
Grammont,  "  I  am  so  hard  worked  ;  but  I  manage 
to  keep  well,  and  my  affairs  prosper  better  than 
some  folk  expected.  ...  I  hope,  with  God's 
help,  that  if  they  attack  me  they  will  find  that  they 
have  made  a  bad  venture."  This  was  written  on 
September  7th  ;  on  the  13th  Mayenne  was  in  front  of 
the  royal  lines;  on  the  i6th  he  attacked  the  suburb 
of  Le  Pollet,  which  he  hoped  to  carry  without  much 
difficulty  and  the  possession  of  which  would  have 
given  him  the  command  of  the  harbour  and  prevented 
the  English  reinforcements  from  reaching  the  King. 
But  meeting  with  an  obstinate  resistance,  both  there 
and  at  Arques,  where  he  had  attempted  a  diversion, 
he  drew  off  his  troops  and,  after  the  next  day  had 
been  spent  in  sallies  and  skirmishes,  determined  to 
mass  his  men  for  a  decisive  attack  on  the  entrenched 
camp  and  other  works  defending  the  direct  approach 
to  Dieppe. 

Three  days  were  spent  in  preparations.     Early  on 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      199 

the  morning  of  September  21st  (about  5  or  6  A.M.), 
the  Leaguers  silently  advanced  to  the  attack  under 
the  cover  of  a  thick  autumnal  fog,  which  not  only 
concealed  their  approach,  but  also,  when  the  attack 
had  begun,  prevented  the  King  from  using  his  artil- 
lery. Yet  the  Catholics  were  unable  to  make  any 
impression  on  the  Royalist  position,  till  their  German 
mercenaries  cried  out  that  they  too  were  Protestants 
and  wished  to  surrender,  upon  which  their  country- 
men and  the  Swiss  in  the  royal  service  held  out  their 
hands  and  the  butt  end  of  their  lances  to  help  them 
over  ditch  and  rampart.  These  lansquenets  at  first 
obeyed  the  orders  of  the  King's  ofificers  to  draw  up 
apart,  but  when  some  of  the  Leaguers  appeared  to 
be  about  to  force  the  entrenchments,  then,  either 
from  premeditated  treachery,  or  because  they  wished 
to  earn  their  pardon  from  those  whom  they  now 
believed  to  be  the  victors,  they  suddenly  turned  upon 
the  Royalists.  For  a  time  it  appeared  as  if  Henry 
IV.  must  fall  back.  The  treachery  of  the  Germans 
had  driven  him  from  his  first  line.  He  had  charged 
ten  times  at  the  head  of  his  division,  and  two  horses 
had  been  killed  under  him,  but  neither  his  own  exer- 
tions nor  those  scarcely  less  determined  of  his  fol- 
lowers would  have  been  able  to  keep  in  check  the 
heavy  masses  of  Mayenne's  mail-clad  horse  and  the 
serried  columns  of  his  Swiss  and  German  infantry, 
had  not  the  sun  at  the  most  critical  moment  scat- 
tered the  fog,  so  that  the  guns  of  the  Castle  of 
Arques  began  to  play  upon  the  advancing  Leaguers, 
while  at  the  same  moment  Chatillon  appeared  lead- 
inCT  the  Huq;uenot  g-arrison  of  Le  Pollet.     "  Here  we 


200  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

are,  Sire,"  their  commander  shouted  as  they  passed 
the  King,  "  ready  to  die  with  you,"  while  his  men 
broke  into  that  fierce  chant,  "  Let  God  arise,"  which 
on  so  many  fields  from  the  Danube  to  the  Boyne  has 
struck  dismay  into  the  hearts  of  the  enemies  of  Prot- 
estantism. The  Leaguers  were  driven  from  the  posi- 
tions they  had  won,  and  Mayenne  fell  sullenly  back. 

Long  after  Aubigne  asked  the  Captain-General  of 
the  League  to  what  cause  he  should  ascribe  his  de- 
feat at  Arques.  After  a  moment's  pause  the  Duke 
replied  :  "  Write  that  it  was  due  to  the  valour  of  the 
old  Huguenot  phalanx,  composed  of  men,  who,  from 
father  to  son,  were  hail  fellow  well  met  with  death." 

The  army  of  the  League  had  only  lost  from  600 
to  400  men,  and  Mayenne  was  able,  five  days  after- 
wards, to  march  round  the  King's  position  and  occu- 
py a  height  from  which  he  could  bombard  the  town 
of  Dieppe.  But  English  vessels  had  already  run 
into  the  harbour,  bringing  ammunition  and  supplies. 
On  September  29th,  1,200  Scotch  landed,  and  three 
days  later  Elizabeth's  fleet  disembarked  4,000  men. 
Henry  IV.  dined  on  the  Admiral's  ship,  and  the 
besiegers  might  hear  the  salvos  of  ordnance,  while 
kettle-drum  and  trumpet  brayed  out  the  triumph  of 
the  toasts  he  pledged. 

The  armies  of  Longueville,  D'Aumont  and  La 
Noue  were  collecting  in  the  rear  of  Mayenne,  his 
supplies  were  intercepted  by  the  King's  garrisons, 
his  army  was  melting  away — the  day  after  the  en- 
gagement at  Arques  3,000  men,  mostly  Parisian 
militia,  left  his  camp.  Tlie  trainbands  of  the  towns, 
like  the  noble  volunteers,  only  conceived  themselves 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?     201 

bound  to  serve  during  their  good  pleasure.  Since 
the  arrival  of  the  English  reinforcements,  whatever 
chance  there  might  have  been  of  reducing  Dieppe 
was  gone.  The  General  of  the  League,  therefore, 
broke  up  his  camp  and  retreated,  glad  that  the  ne- 
cessity of  obtaining  help  from  the  Spaniards  gave 
him  a  pretext  for  hurrying  to  Amiens  and  spared 
him  the  mortification  of  returning  baffled  and  de- 
feated to  Paris. 

Shortly  before  the  attack  on  Arques  the  Count  of 
Belin,  a  Leaguist  ofificer,  had  been  taken  prisoner 
and  was  received  by  the  King  with  the  courtesy  and 
caresses  by  which  he  generally  sought  to  disarm  and 
win  his  opponents  ;  he  v/as  a  very  spaniel,  his  old 
followers  grumbled,  whom  you  must  beat  if  you 
would  have  him  fawn  upon  you.  Belin  in  return  for 
the  King's  civilities  said  that  from  what  he  saw  of 
the  strength  of  his  Majesty's  forces  he  feared  that 
he  would  not  be  able  to  resist  the  great  army  about 
to  attack  him.  "  You  forget,  M.  de  Belin,"  was  the 
reply,  "  that  part  of  my  strength  which  you  do  not 
see — the  help  of  God  and  my  good  cause."  The  re- 
pulse of  the  army  of  the  League  opened  the  eyes  of 
many  to  what  M.  de  Belin  had  been  unable  to  see. 
It  appeared  likely  enough  that  Heaven  would  help 
one  so  indefatigable  and  brave  in  helping  himself. 
And  it  was  seen  that  on  earth,  too,  he  had  allies ; — 
the  ships  and  soldiers  of  the  Queen  of  England, 
fresh  from  the  defeat  of  the  Invincible  Armada,  the 
treasures  of  the  Dutch  who  thought  their  money 
not  ill  spent  if  it  should  aid  in  diverting  Parma  to 
France.     "  Arques,"  said  a  young  prince  who  fought 


202  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

in  the  Royalist  ranks,  "  was  the  gate  through  which 
the  King  entered  upon  the  path  of  his  glory  and 
prosperity." 

That  Europe  thought  so  too  was  shown  by  the 
action  of  the  Venetian  Senate.  That  prudent  oli- 
garchy, in  spite  of  the  protests  and  threats  of  the 
Spanish  ambassador  and  of  the  papal  legate,  deter- 
mined to  recognise  Henry  IV.  and  to  send  an 
embassy  to  his  Court.  That  these  wise  statesmen,  so 
careful  to  trim  the  sails  of  their  shattered  bark  to  the 
wind  of  success,  should  thus  show  that  they  believed 
the  future  to  be  on  his  side,  was  an  omen  of  sad  im- 
port to  the  French  King's  enemies  and  greatly  raised 
the  hopes  of  his  friends. 

The  first  use  made  by  Henry  IV.  of  his  victory 
was  to  let  it  be  understood  that  he  was  prepared  to 
grant  the  most  liberal  terms  to  Mayenne,  not,  he 
said,  that  he  feared  him,  but  that  his  heart  bled  for 
the  sufferings  of  his  people.  The  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  of  the  League,  deaf  to  the  arguments  of  Villeroy 
and  of  the  most  honest  among  his  advisers,  rejected 
all  overtures. 

After  uniting  his  forces  with  those  of  his  generals 
the  King  advanced  upon  Paris  with  an  army  of 
20,000  men.  Slowly  at  first,  hoping  that  Mayenne 
would  hurry  to  the  defence  of  the  Capital  and  give 
him  the  opportunity  of  winning  a  pitched  battle. 
Then,  finding  that  his  opponent  did  not  accept  the 
challenge  and  encouraged  by  messages  from  his  par- 
tisans within  the  walls,  by  forced  marches.  Before 
daybreak  on  November  ist,  and  in  a  thick  fog,  his 
columns  carried   by  assault   in  three  places  the  sub- 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      203 

urbs  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Seine  and  all  but 
succeeded  in  entering  the  city  itself  pell-mell  with 
the  fugitives  they  were  driving  before  them.  It 
was  perhaps  well  for  the  Royalists  that  they  did 
not  succeed  in  penetrating  into  the  town,  where  they 
might  have  "  been  lost  and  overwhelmed  in  the 
labyrinth  of  narrow  and  barricaded  streets. 

The  suburb  of  St. -Germain  was  sacked,  and  it  is 
said  that  the  slaughter  of  the  Parisians  by  Chatillon's 
men  to  the  cry  of  "  Remember  St.  Bartholomew  !  " 
greatly  impaired  for  a  time  the  popularity  of  the 
King's  cause  in  Paris.  Yet  the  churches  were 
respected,  no  violence  was  offered  to  women,  nor 
were  any  victims  slain  in  cold  blood.  Meantime 
the  Duke,,  hearing  that  Paris  was  in  danger,  had 
left  Amiens  and  was  advancing  with  all  possible 
speed.  He  entered  the  town  two  days  after  the 
attack  on  the  suburbs.  Henry,  after  drawing  up 
his  troops  and  offering  battle  in  the  plain  of  Mont- 
rouge  retired  slowly  towards  the  Loire,  reaching 
Tours  on  November  21st. 

Through  the  province  of  Maine,  which  submitted 
after  the  surrender  of  the  Capital,  Le  Mans  and 
Brittany,  where  he  was  welcomed  by  the  Parliament 
of  Rennes  and  by  a  loyal  minority  among  the  nobles, 
the  King  marched  into  Normandy  and  in  less  than  a 
month  had  reduced  to  obedience  all  the  important 
towns  and  fortresses,  with  the  exception  of  Rouen, 
Havre  and  Avranches. 

His  necessities  compelled  him  to  levy  contributions, 
but  all  plunder  and  licence  were  severely  punished  ; 
he  showed    the   most    scrupulous    respect    for    the 


204  He7iry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

churches,  and  received  all  who  submitted  with  the 
most  gracious  courtesy.  A  harmless  sarcasm  was  the 
worst  they  needed  to  fear.  When  the  magistrates  of 
a  town  which  had  only  opened  its  gates  after  it  had 
been  played  upon  by  the  royal  batteries  assured  him 
in  a  set  harangue  of  that  loyalty  which  was  his  by 
divine  and  civil  law,  he  corrected  them  with  a  smile  : 
"Cannon  law  you  mean,  gentlemen." 

Meantime  Mayenne  was  playing  a  difficult  game 
with  considerable  skill  in  Paris.  Philip  II's  envoys, 
Tassis  and  Mendoza,  urged  that  their  master  should 
be  proclaimed  "Protector  of  the  Kingdom";  if  he 
was,  he  would  pay  the  cost  of  the  war.  The  taxes  of 
France  should  be  devoted  to  paying  her  debts,  and 
Frenchmen  should  share  the  trade  and  wealth  of  the 
New  World  with  the  subjects  of  his  Catholic  Majesty. 
After  the  death  of  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  the  suc- 
cession might  be  settled  on  some  French  prince  with 
the  hand  of  the  Infanta  Isabella  ; — offers,  tempting 
in  themselves,  but  as  little  agreeing  with  Mayenne's 
ambition  as  with  the  patriotism  of  those  of  his 
advisers  who  had  not  forgotten  that  they  were 
Frenchmen.  The  authority  of  the  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral  of  the  Union  would  pale  before  that  of  the  Pro- 
tector of  the  Kingdom,  and  since  the  Duke  was 
married  he  could  not  hope  to  be  the  Prince  favoured 
with  the  hand  of  the  Infanta  ;  while  the  sounder  part 
of  the  Catholic  party,  men  who,  believing  in  the  in- 
timate  connection  of  Galilean  Church  and  State,  felt 
unable  to  recognise  an  enemy  of  that  Church  as  the 
Most  Christian  King,  were  far  from  wishing  to  see 
their  country  the  tributary  of  Spain. 


15921      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?     205 

As  a  temporary  compromise  all  were  willing  to 
recognise  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon.  It  was  known 
that  he  could  not  live  long,  and  meanwhile  the  Span- 
iards trusted  to  be  able,  with  the  help  of  the  Jesuits 
and  their  other  allies  in  the  confessional  and  the  pul- 
pit, by  large  bribes  and  still  larger  promises,  to  pre- 
pare public  opinion  for  the  succession  of  the  Infanta. 
The  more  patriotic  Leaguers,  statesmen  such  as  Ville- 
roy  and  Jeannin,  hoped  that  time  would  be  gained 
for  the  conversion  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  or,  if  he 
proved  obdurate,  for  securing  the  accession  of  some 
Catholic  prince  of  the  House  of  Bourbon ;  while 
Mayenne,  too  cautious  to  attempt  to  seize  the  Crown 
himself,  could  not  hope  to  have  more  power  than 
while  carrying  on  the  government  in  the  name  of  an 
old  man,  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  opponents. 
Charles  of  Bourbon  was  accordingly  proclaimed 
King,  and  his  supporters  pledged  themselves  to 
labour  for  his  release  and  coronation  at  Rheims. 

After  this,  on  the  ground  that  the  large  powers 
which  it  claimed  to  exercise  were  inconsistent  with 
the  authority  of  a  legitimate  and  orthodox  monarch, 
Mayenne  no  longer  summoned  or  consulted  the 
"Council  General  of  the  Union,"  but  appointed  a 
Council  of  State  attached  to  his  person,  composed  in 
part  of  the  more  important  members  of  the  Council 
General,  in  part  of  Secretaries  of  State  nominated  by 
himself.  This  was  a  revolution  in  the  constitution 
of  the  League.  The  Council  General  had  been 
largely  representative  and  democratic — the  Council 
of  State  was  the  mere  instrument  of  Mayenne's 
personal  government. 


2o6  He7iry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

But  while  the  Spaniards,  Guisards,  Politicians  and 
Fanatics  were  intriguing  against  each  other  at  Paris, 
the  King  was  extending  his  conquests.  Meulanhad 
been  relieved,  Poissy  taken,  and  now  he  was  threat- 
ening Dreux.  The  possession  of  the  towns  on  the 
Seine  enabled  the  Royalists  to  prevent  the  supplies 
of  Normandy  reaching  the  Capital.  If  Dreux  fell, 
the  rich  crops  of  the  fertile  plain  of  the  Beauce 
would  also  be  lost.  Already  the  pressure  of  want 
was  felt.  Mayenne,  who  had  been  joined  by  2,000 
Spanish  and  Walloon  men-at-arms  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  Count  of  Egmont,  and  by  some  German 
foot  in  the  pay  of  Spain  marched  to  the  relief  of 
Dreux.  The  King,  whose  army  was  very  inferior  in 
numbers,  was  compelled  to  raise  the  siege,  and 
Mayenne,  having  attained  his  object,  would  have 
fallen  back  without  offering  battle,  had  he  not 
yielded  to  the  representations  of  his  officers.  They 
pointed  out  to  him  the  superiority  of  his  army  to 
that  of  the  King;  the  Count  of  Egmont,  zealous  in 
the  service  of  his  father's  murderers,  protested  that 
his  mailed  lancers  would  ride  down  the  lightly  armed 
cavalry  of  the  King.  More  trusted  advisers  whis- 
pered to  the  Duke  that  the  general  of  a  victorious 
army  might  boldly  demand  the  Crown  from  the 
representatives  of  the  nation.  If  he  could  hope  to 
meet  them  on  anything  like  equal  terms  Henry  IV. 
was  not  the  man  to  baulk  his  opponents  of  their 
wish  to  fight  a  pitched  battle.  During  the  two  days 
which  intervened  between  March  12th;  the  day  on 
which  he  broke  up  his  leaguer  before  Dreux,  and 
March    14th,   that  on  which  the  battle  of  Ivry  was 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      207 

fought,  his  army  was  considerably  increased  by 
reinforcements  from  Normandy  and  Picardy  and 
even  from  Champagne  and  the  banks  of  the  Loire. 
Though  impatient  of  a  protracted  campaign,  the 
French  gentry  scented  a  battle  from  afar,  and  eager 
for  the  fray  hastened  to  swell  the  King's  ranks.  But 
even  so,  he  was  greatly  outnumbered,  and  could 
oppose  only  2,200  cavalry  and  8,000  infantry  to 
Mayenne's  4,000  veteran  horse  and  12,000  foot. 

Du  Plessis-Mornay,  always  first  where  he  could 
serve  his  master  with  pen  or  sword,  reached  the  field 
in  time  to  charge  in  the  first  line  of  the  King's 
division,  composed  almost  entirely  of  men  of  birth 
and  quality,  but  after  the  day  was  won  he  exclaimed  : 
"  You  have.  Sire,  committed  the  bravest  folly  that 
ever  was,  in  staking  the  fate  of  a  kingdom  on  one 
cast  of  the  dice." 

Yet  Henry  IV.  had  been  careful  to  leave  as  little 
as  possible  to  chance.  Nothing  was  omitted  which 
might  enable  his  men  to  enter  the  battle  with  stout 
hearts  and  vigorous  bodies.  The  March  night  was 
stormy  and  cold,  but  most  of  the  royal  troops  were 
lodged  in  the  villages  on  the  fringe  of  the  plain  of 
Ivry,  and  large  fires,  tents  and  shelter  were  provided 
for  those  who  were  compelled  to  encamp  in  the 
open.  A  plentiful  supply  of  wine  and  provisions 
was  distributed  to  all.  The  King  himself  visited 
their  quarters  with  such  words  to  officers  and  men 
as  were  likely  to  raise  their  enthusiasm  to  the  highest 
pitch.  The  Count  of  Schomberg,  the  Colonel  of  the 
German  mercenaries,  asking  on  the  previous  day  for 
the  arrears  of  pay  due  to  his  men,  had  received  a  curt 


2o8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [i589- 

reply :  "  Men  of  honour  did  not  ask  for  money  on 
the  day  before  a  battle."  Now  Henry  sought  him 
out:  "  M.  de  Schomberg,  I  insulted  you.  This  may 
be  the  last  day  of  my  life  and  I  would  not  wrong 
the  honour  of  a  gentleman.  Pardon  me,  and  em- 
brace me."  "  Sir,"  replied  the  German,  "  yester- 
day, it  is  true,  your  Majesty  wounded  me — but 
to-day  you  kill  me;  for  the  honour  you  do  me 
obliges  me  to  lay  down  my  life  in  your  service." 
Schomberg  kept  his  word  ;  obtaining  permission  to 
leave  his  command  and  to  charge  with  the  King's 
division,  he  forced  his  way  into  the  densest  ranks  of 
the  enemy  and  fell  fighting  valorously. 

The  King  protested  to  his  followers  that  he  fought 
not  for  personal  aggrandisement,  but  in  the  hope  of 
restoring  peace  and  unity  to  his  unhappy  country, 
and  that  it  was  his  earnest  prayer  his  life  might  not 
be  preserved,  unless  it  was  for  his  people's  good  ; 
and  since  he  passed  much  of  the  night  in  private 
devotions  it  would  be  unjust  to  question  his  sin- 
cerity. The  edifying  example  of  their  leader  was 
followed  by  the  royal  army.  The  village  churches 
were  full  of  Catholic  Royalists  hearing  Mass  and 
confessing  ;  while  the  Protestants  sang  their  psalms 
and  listened  to  the  exhortations  of  ministers  not  less 
valiant  than  pious.) 

The  zeal  of  the  Swiss  was  stimulated  by  means 
more  congenial  to  the  practical  genius  of  their  nation  ; 
40,000  crowns  which  the  economy  of  Mornay  had 
provided  were  distributed  among  them. 

'^The  King  threw  himself  down  to  rest  for  a  couple 
of  hours,  but  before  daybreak,  was  again  astir,  visit- 


1592]      Ca7i  a  Heretic  be  Khig  of  France?      209 

ing  his  men,  explaining  his  simple  plan  of  battle  to 
the  officers  and  raising  the  spirits  of  all  by  his 
cheerful  confidence.  In  an  army  of  barely  10,000 
men,  all  could  hear  the  words,  could  at  least  see  the 
countenance  and  be  brought  under  the  personal  in- 
fluence of  their  commander.  ) 

Henry's  tactics  were  much  the  same  as  at  Coutras. 
He  supported  each  division  of  cavalry  by  infantry  on 
both  flanks ;  and  drew  up  his  horse  in  deep  masses, 
so  that  they  might  be  able  to  force  their  way  through 
the  gaps  made  by  the  musketry  in  the  enemies' 
hedge  of  lances.  Mayenne  also  placed  his  regiments 
of  infantry  in  the  intervals  of  his  cavalry,  and  drew 
up  his  forces  in  the  same  order  as  those  of  the  King, 
except  that  as  his  army  was  much  the  more  numerous 
his  line  was  in  the  form  of  a  crescent.  The  Duke 
himself,  with  his  best  men-at-arms,  placed  himself 
with  Egmont  and  his  Flemish  horse  in  the  centre 
opposite  the  King.  After  the  rebels  had  formed 
their  line  of  battle  they  halted,  and  the  King  took 
advantage  of  their  hesitation  to  alter  by  a  skilful 
manoeuvre  the  position  of  his  men,  so  that  they 
should  not  advance  with  the  sun  and  dust  in  their 
eyes. 

The  engagement  began  by  nine  volleys  fired  with 
great  effect  by  the  King's  cannon — ^some  six  pieces, 
— a  respectable  field  battery  in  those  days.  But 
although  Marshal  d'Aumont  drove  the  light  cavalry 
of  the  League  headlong  from  the  field,  fortune  did  not 
at  first  appear  disposed  to  favour  the  Royalists.  The 
German  Reiters  and  the  Walloons  broke  the  lighter 
French  horse,  who  in  vain  attempted  to  protect  the 


2IO  Henry  of  Navarre.  ri589- 

artillery.  The  Duke  of  Montpensier  on  the  King's 
left  was  driven  back  by  the  Duke  of  Nemours ;  and 
the  advance  of  Biron's  division,  A"hich  had  been 
stationed  somewhat  farther  back  tnan  the  rest  of 
the  line,  barely  saved  D'Aumont's  cavalry  from 
being  overwhelmed  by  their  numerous  assailants. 
France,  said  an  eye-witness,  appeared  to  be  on  the 
very  verge  of  ruin. 

Henry  IV.  saw  that  the  decisive  moment  was 
come,  and  himself  prepared  to  lead  his  choicest 
troops  in  the  supreme  and  desperate  struggle.  As  his 
helmet,  conspicuous  by  a  vast  plume  of  white  pea- 
cock feathers,  was  placed  on  his  head,  he  cried : 
"  Comrades,  God  is  on  our  side.  There  are  his  ene- 
mies and  ours,  and  here  is  your  King.  Should  your 
standards  fall,  rally  round  my  white  plume  ;  you 
will  find  it  on  the  path  of  victory  and  honour!  " 

Mayenne's  horsemen  outnumbered  those  of  the 
King  by  three  to  one,  but  fortunately  at  the  mo- 
ment of  Henry's  attack  his  opponents  had  been 
thrown  into  confusion  by  the  German  Reiters,  who 
after  their  charge  had  fallen  back,  as  their  custom 
was,  to  re-form  behind  their  own  line.  Sufificient 
space  for  this  manoeuvre  ought  to  have  been  left 
between  the  corps  supporting  theni.  But  the 
Leaguist  officer,  on  whom  the  duty  devolved  of  see- 
ing that  the  different  bodies  of  troops  took  up  the 
positions  assigned  to  them,  was  shortsighted,  and 
had  placed  them  too  closely  together ;  and  this  mis- 
take was  the  more  serious,  because,  arranged  as  they 
were  in  a  crescent,  they  converged  in  advancing 
upon  the  enemy.     The  Reiters  finding  no  space  left, 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  f      211 

tried  to  force  their  way  through  Mayenne's  and  Eg- 
mont's  ranks,  threw  them  into  disorder  and  checked 
their  advance,  so  that  the  King  was  among  them 
before  they  could  get  into  a  charge  or  use  their 
lances  with  effect.  Yet  the  contest  was  fierce  and 
for  a  time  uncertain.  Though  Henry  amply  justified 
by  his  intrepid  valour  what  else  had  seemed  a  bom- 
bastic vaunt,  plunging  into  the  enemies'  ranks  two 
horse-lengths  ahead  of  his  followers,  nor  resting  till 
his  sword  was  beaten  out  of  shape,  his  arm  spent 
and  swollen  with  changing  blows,  some  of  his  men 
had  fallen  back,  thrown  into  confusion  by  a  volley 
poured  into  them  at  twenty-live  yards  by  Mayenne's 
musketeers.  But  the  greater  number  pressed  on, 
fired  by  their  King's  example  and  emulating  his 
courage.  The  Count  of  Egmont  fell  and  his  Wal- 
loons took  to  flight.  Mayenne  and  Nemours  seeing 
their  horse  give  way  hurried  from  the  field.  The 
infantry  of  the  League  as  yet  stood  their  ground 
and  outnumbered  the  whole  army  of  the  King;  if 
his  cavalry  had  scattered  in  pursuit,  the  issue  of  the 
day  might  have  remained  ambiguous  and  incom- 
plete. But  Henry  had  given  most  express  orders 
that  his  horse  if  they  broke  the  enemy  were  to  keep 
their  order  and  return  to  their  positions.  The  Cath- 
olic Swiss,  when  they  saw  that  the  King's  guns  were 
about  to  be  turned  against  their  squares,  did  not 
care  to  be  shot  down  in  the  cause  of  a  leader  who 
had  proved  an  indifferent  paymaster,  and  surren- 
dered without  a  blow.  The  German  foot  would 
gladly  have  done  the  same,  but  the  memory  of  their 
treachery  at  Arques  was   fresh,  and  they  were  cut 


212  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

down  without  compunction.  A  large  part  also  of 
the  French  infantry  either  perished  on  the  field,  or 
were  drowned  in  trying  to  cross  the  flooded  Eure. 
Mayenne,  careful  only  to  secure  his  own  escape, 
caused  the  bridge  at  Ivry  to  be  broken  down  as  soon 
as  he  had  crossed,  but  the  King  passed  the  river  at 
another  place,  and  hunted  him  as  far  as  the  gates  of 
Mantes. 

The  victory  was  complete.  The  ^rmy  of  the 
League  was  annihilated  ;  of  4,000  horse,  1,500  were 
dead  or  prisoners.  The  infantry  had  disappeared, 
the  standard  of  Mayenne,  black  lilies  on  a  white 
field,  and  the  red  cornet  of  the  Count  of  Egmont, 
were  among  the  King's  trophies. 

The  unexpected  and  complete  rout  of  their  army 
caused  such  alarm  and  confusion  among  the  partisans 
of  the  League  at  Paris  that  it  was  generally  believed 
that  if  the  King  had  ridden  straight  on  to  the  gates 
of  the  Capital  he  would  have  met  with  no  resistance. 
He  himself  wished  to  make  the  attempt,  but,  with 
the  noteworthy  exception  of  La  None,  the  most 
authoritative  voices  in  his  Council  were  loud  against 
such  rashness.  Continuous  rains  had  made  the 
roads  impassable.  The  treasury  was  empty  and  the 
most  necessary  supplies  not  to  be  obtained.  The 
soldiers  had  exhausted  their  ammunition.  Specious 
reasons,  but  few  of  the  King's  advisers  wished  his 
triumph  to  be  speedy  and  complete.  Least  of  all, 
Marshal  Biron,  whose  opinion  had  the  greatest 
weight  in  military  matters.  Even  among  the  Prot- 
estants, some  like  the  Dukes  of  Thouars  and  Bouil- 
lon   thought    the}'    had     more     to     hope    from    the 


15921      Can  a  Heretic  be  Ki7ig  of  France?      213 

necessity  than  from  the  gratitude  of  Henry,  while 
many  honest  Catholics,  believing  that  by  his  conver- 
sion he  might  at  any  moment  disarm  all  serious 
opposition,  did  not  wish  him  to  secure  the  throne 
without  paying  the  price  which  he  already,  so  to 
speak,  held  in  his  hand.  He  might  be  honest  in 
protesting  that  he  intended  no  change  in  the  estab- 
lished religion  of  the  State  ;  but  as  a  heretic  he  must 
remain  under  the  papal  ban,  and  in  a  prolonged  con- 
test with  Rome  to  what  lengths  might  he  not  be 
driven  ?  How  painful  in  any  case  the  dilemma  to 
his  orthodox  subjects !  On  the  other  hand,  if,  as  the 
oflEicial  phrase  ran,  he  received  instruction,  Sixtus  V., 
whose  hostility  to  the  League  and  Spain  was  no 
secret,  would  without  delay  welcome  him  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Church.  The  more  moderate  of  the 
King's  opponents  were  not  less  desirous  of  his  con- 
version than  his  Catholic  supporters.  Villeroy,  who 
had  left  Paris,  visited  his  friend  and  neighbour  Du 
Plessis-Mornay,  and  endeavoured  to  prove  to  him 
the  necessity  that  Henry  IV.  should  conform  to  the 
religion  of  the  large  majority  of  his  subjects,  in  order 
that  the  perishing  State  might  be  relieved  from  the 
misery  of  civil  war ;  while  he  pointed  out  to  May- 
enne  with  a  frankness  creditable  to  a  man  constitu- 
tionally timid,  that  he  was  now  entirely  dependent 
on  Spain,  and  that  Spain  insisted  upon  being  paid 
for  every  soldier  and  every  ducat  by  some  strip  of 
territory,  some  sacrifice  of  French  interests  and  inde- 
pendence. The  Guises  asked  for  and  expected  Span- 
ish doubloons,  but  Philip  would  send  them  Spanish 
veterans.     Besides,  who  could  believe  that  the  Duke 


214  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 


was  fighting  for  the  CathoHc  faith  and  the  relief  of 
the  people,  who  saw  how  those  who  followed  him 
served  God  by  blaspheming  His  Holy  Name,  pil- 
laging churches,  violating  every  law  human  and 
divine.  "Our  Union,"  he  concluded,  "from  top  to 
bottom  is  nothing  but  disunion  ;  our  towns  are  full 
of  lawlessness,  riot  and  poverty  !  " 

The  King  had  probably  from  the  moment  of  his 
accession  looked  upon  his  conversion  as  a  conces- 
sion which  might  become  unavoidable,  and  he  had, 
as  we  have  seen,  even  before  1589  prepared  the  way 
for  such  a  step  by  professing  on  all  occasions  his 
willingness  to  "  receive  instruction  "  and  to  renounce 
any  errors  of  which  he  might  be  convinced. 

Henry  IV.  was  not  an  unbeliever,  not  inaccessible 
to  religious  emotion  ;  in  trouble  or  sickness  he  found 
comfort  in  prayer  and  in  the  psalms  which  had 
soothed  his  infancy,  but  his  emotions  were  super- 
ficial and  transitory,  his  ambition  deep  and  enduring. 
His  creed  he  said  was  that  of  all  honest  men.  Yet 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  in  his  heart  he  held 
Protestantism  to  be  nearer  the  truth  than  Romanism. 
D'Amours  preaching  before  the  King,  when  it  was 
known  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  be  con- 
verted, warned  him  not  to  provoke  God's  judgment 
by  wilfully  sinning  against  light.  The  Catholic 
courtiers  cried  out  that  such  insolence  should  be 
punished.  "Why,"  said  the  King,  "what  would  you 
have?  he  has  only  told  me  a  home  truth." 

Perhaps  Henry  still  hoped  that  he  might  be  able 
to  establish  his  authority  while  remaining  a  Prot- 
estant.    Elizabeth  of  England  had  tried  the  policy 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  ?     215 

of  comprehension  ;  like  him  a  latitudinarian,  she  had 
endeavoured  to  establish  a  national  Church  on  so 
broad  a  basis  that  by  degrees  both  CathoHcs  and 
Reformers  might,  it  was  hoped,  be  induced  to  attend 
its  services  and  be  able  to  interpret  its  doctrine  to 
their  own  contentment.  This  attempt  had  failed. 
The  hostility  of  the  Romanists  was  growing  more 
and  more  marked,  and  there  were  already  signs  that 
the  more  logical  Protestants  would  before  long  as 
unequivocally  reject  the  Anglican  compromise.  In 
France,  at  any  rate,  it  was  clear  that  comprehension 
was  utterly  impossible ;  and  Henry  was  determined 
to  adopt  the  other  alternative,  toleration. 

But  then  the  old  principle  of  the  French  Mon- 
archy— "  one  king,  one  faith,  one  law  " — must  be 
abandoned,  the  close  connection  between  Church  and 
State  must  be  severed  or  at  least  relaxed.  A  State 
Church,  an  established  Church,  might  continue  to 
exist,  and  that  Church  could  be  none  other  than  the 
Roman  Church,  the  Church  of  the  vast  majority,  but 
it  would  have  to  be  recognised  that  those  who  were 
not  within  its  pale  might  be  good  and  loyal  members 
of  the  State. 

This  could  perhaps  be  best  brought  about  if  the 
King,  the  personification  of  the  State,  the  symbol  of 
national  unity,  was  himself  a  Protestant,  sufficiently 
liberal  and  honest  to  respect  the  position  and  priv- 
ileges of  the  Establishment. 

If  the  King  was  Catholic,  the  identification  of 
Church  and  State  would  again  appear  so  complete 
that  heresy  might  lead  to  disloyalty,  that  a  man 
who    rejected    the    King's    creed    would    not    un- 


X 


2i6  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

reasonably  be  suspected  of  wishing  to  impair  his 
authority. 

Besides  it  was  evident  that  the  Protestant  minority 
must  have  an  organisation — for  the  government  of 
their  Church,  if  not  for  self-protection ;  if  the  King 
was  a  Huguenot  he  would  be  the  natural  head  of 
this  body,  if  he  was  a  Catholic  the  Protestant  com- 
munity might  become  a  danger  to  national  unity. 

The  army  of  the  League  was  so  entirely  annihilated 
at  Ivry  that  Mayenne  was  scarcely  able  to  collect 
6,000  men  in  the  course  of  the  next  five  months. 
Nor  had  his  partisans  been  more  lucky  in  other  parts 
of  the  country.  It  was  noticed  by  the  Royalists  as 
a  remarkable  and  auspicious  coincidence  that  on  the 
very  day  of  the  great  victory  the  Leaguers  of 
Auvergne  were  routed  and  their  leader  slain,  and 
an  attempt  to  surprise  the  garrison  of  Le  Mans 
defeated. 

Henry  IV.,  now  that  he  was  undisputed  master  of 
the  open  country,  determined  to  starve  the  Capital 
into  submission.  Even  had  it  appeared  an  easy 
thing  to  take  by  assault  a  town  defended  by  a 
garrison  of  three  or  four  thousand  regular  soldiers 
and  ten  times  as  many  armed  and  trained  citizens, 
the  King  was  unwilling  to  expose  his  Capital  to  the 
horrors  of  a  sack. 

When  the  first  panic  caused  by  the  news  of  Ivry 
was  allayed,  vigorous  preparations  were  made  for 
the  defence  of  the  city.  The  Spanish  ambassador, 
Mendoza,  was  foremost  in  authority  and  counsel.  To 
him  and  to  his  master  the  defeat  of  Mayenne  was 
not  wholly  unwelcome  ;  for  the  Duke  was  now  com- 


HENRY  IV. 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  ?     217 

pelled  to  lay  aside  all  affectation  of  independence 
and  to  approach  Philip  as  an  humble  suppliant,  al- 
though secretly  as  determined  as  ever  to  play  for  his 
own  hand. 

Careful  inquiry  showed  that  Paris  which  contained 
220,000  inhabitants  was  provisioned  for  about  a 
fortnight. 

The  King's  garrisons  commanded  the  rivers  ajid 
roads,  but  the  venality  of  their  officers  allowed  many 
convoys  to  pass.  Eight  thousand  measures  of  corn, 
I0,CXX)  barrels  of  wine  were  added  to  the  public  stores. 
For  a  month  no  scarcity  need  be  feared,  and  long 
before  then,  so  the  preachers  assured  their  congre- 
gations, Parma's  matchless  veterans  would  relieve 
the  Catholic  King's  "  good  city,"  or  else  God  would 
raise  up  a  second  Jacques  Clement  to  save  His 
people  in  the  hour  of  their  need.  And  this  perhaps 
was  the  hope  on  which  most  reliance  was  justly 
placed,  for,  as  Henry  wrote  to  his  mistress,  the  num- 
ber of  assassins  who  were  persuaded  to  attempt  his 
life  was  scarcely  credible.  The  usual  means,  pro- 
cessions, placards  representing  atrocities  inflicted  by 
heretics  and  Royalists,  virulent  broad-sheets  and 
more  virulent  sermons,  were  employed  to  rouse  the 
fanaticism  of  the  mob.  The  Sorbonne  declared 
(May  7th)  that  even  if  Charles  of  Bourbon  on  his 
death-bed  were  to  recognise  his  nephew  as  his  heir 
(the  King  of  the  League  died  in  prison  two  days 
later),  and  Henry  abjuring  his  heresy  were  absolved 
by  the  Pope,  even  then  he  would  be  incapable  of 
succeeding  to  the  Crown. 

Scarcely  had  this  decision  of  the  Faculty  of  The- 


2 1 8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

ology  been  promulgated,  when  the  citizens  saw  from 
the  walls  the  Royal  army,  1 2,000  foot  and  3,000 
horse,  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle  before  the  suburbs 
of  St.  Antoine  and  St.  Martin.  Charenton  and  all 
the  fortified  places  in  the  neighbourhood  fell,  and 
although  an  attack  on  St.  Denis  was  repulsed,  the 
city  was  soon  closely  invested. 

Before  the  beginning  of  August,  although  some 
precarious  supplies  had  found  their  way  through  the 
royal  lines,  and  although  the  Jesuits  and  other  re- 
ligious houses  had  been  compelled  to  produce  their 
private  stores,  the  Parisians  had  well-nigh  exhausted 
the  disgusting  though  common  dietary  of  famine, 
rats  and  other  vermin,  boiled  leather,  ofTal  and  the 
like,  and  were  compelled  to  have  recourse  to  even 
stranger  and  more  hateful  viands.  By  the  advice  of 
the  Spanish  ambassador  bones  were  collected  from 
the  cemeteries,  ground  down  and  baked  into  loaves. 
But  those  rarely  survived  who  ate  of  this  so-called 
"  bread  of  Mme.  de  Montpensier."  That  lady  herself 
refused,  it  was  said,  2,000  crowns  for  her  lap-dog, 
reserving  it  for  her  last  meal ;  but  on  what,  mean- 
time, was  the  animal  itself  fed  ?  A  woman,  and  she 
one  of  the  wealthier  sort,  salted  down  her  infants  who 
had  died  of  starvation,  but  found  in  this  Thyestean 
banquet  no  sustenance,  only  madness  and  death. 
The  stomachs  or  fancy  of  the  lansquenets  was  less 
nice,  if,  as  was  believed,  they  carried  off  and  roasted 
any  stray  child  they  met. 

On  July  24th,  the  royal  army,  which  had  been 
considerably  reinforced,  assaulted  and  carried  the 
suburbs.    The  walls  of  the  city  itself  might  no  doubt 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      219 

have  been  stormed,  but  the  King  knew  the  extrem- 
ities to  which  Paris  was  reduced,  and  beheved  it 
to  be  impossible  that  it  should  hold  out  for  more 
than  a  few  days.  The  people  were  daily  dying  by 
hundreds,  their  corpses  lay  unburied  in  the  streets, 
noisome  reptiles,  toads  and  adders,  multiplied  in  the 
empty  houses.  Processions,  sermons  thrice  daily, 
the  Host  permanently  exposed  on  the  altars,  nay 
even  Spanish  silver  could  not  stay  the  pangs  of  star- 
vation. Everywhere  the  cry,  "  Peace  or  Bread,"  be- 
gan to  be  heard.  Parma  indeed  had  sent  word  that 
he  was  preparing  to  march,  and  hoped  to  unite  his 
forces  with  those  of  Mayenne  on  or  before  August 
15th;  but  these  tidings  only  increased  the  popular 
despair.  Why  could  not  this  have  been  done  a 
month,  two  months  earlier?  In  a  fortnight  more 
Paris  would  no  longer  be  a  city  of  the  living,  but  a 
vast  charnel  house  ! 

To  satisfy  the  people,  Nemours  and  his  council 
were  compelled  to  send  Gondi,  the  Bishop  of  Paris, 
and  Espinac,  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  to  open  negotia- 
tions with  Henry.  Although  they  styled  him  King 
of  Navarre,  he  received  them  with  courtesy,  only  re- 
marking that  their  feet  would  be  well  scorched  in 
the  next  world  for  so  misleading  their  flocks  in  this. 
But  he  flatly  refused  to  allow  questions  concerning 
the  general  settlement  of  the  nation  to  be  mixed  up 
with  a  treaty  for  the  capitulation  of  Paris. 

It  seemed  impossible  that  the  patience  of  the 
citizens  could  endure  for  another  week  ;  yet  the 
siege  continued  more  than  twenty  days  longer. 
Henry's  humanity  prevented  his  triumph.      He  al- 


2  20  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

lowed  many  of  the  starving  inhabitants  to  pass  his 
lines,  three  or  four  thousand  miserable  wretches  on 
one  day  ;  thus  exciting  the  indignation  of  his  good 
ally,  the  Queen  of  England.  "  If  God,"  she  wrote, 
"shall,  by  His  merciful  grace,  grant  you  victory,  I 
swear  to  you  it  will  be  more  than  your  carelessness 
deserves."  He  sent  presents  of  food  and  of  dainties 
to  the  Princesses,  even  to  his  most  determined 
enemy,  Mme.  de  Montpensier,  and  thus  seemed  to 
sanction  similar  attentions  to  their  friends  on  the 
part  of  the  nobles  in  his  camp.  The  officers  and 
even  the  private  soldiers  at  the  outposts  thought  it 
no  great  harm  to  sell  small  quantities  of  provisions 
at  enormous  prices  to  the  starving  citizens ;  an  irreg- 
ularity which  it  was  difficult  to  check,  since  the  King 
could  not  pay  his  troops  and  did  not  choose  to  bribe 
them  by  the  prospect  of  the  sack  of  the  great  city. 

But  though  such  chance  supplies  might  enable  the 
besieged  to  struggle  on  a  few  days  longer,  Henry  IV. 
was  confident  that  the  final  catastrophe  was  none  the 
less  inevitable  and  near.  Mayenne,  whom  he  had  all 
but  captured  on  his  way  to  Laon,  he  did  not  fear, 
and  he  could  not  believe  that  Parma  would  leave  the 
Netherlands  and  his  all  but  accomplished  task,  to 
march  to  the  relief  of  the  League,  letting  the  sub- 
stance go,  to  grasp  at  the  shadow,  as  the  Prince 
himself  complained  to  Philip  II. 

It  was  therefore  a  most  unwelcome  surprise  to  the 
King  to  hear  that  the  Governor  of  the  Netherlands 
with  13,000  men  had  joined  the  Lieutenant-General 
of  the  League  at  Meaux  on  August  23d,  and  that 
they  were  marching  upon  Paris. 


1592]     Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  f      221 

La  Noue,  Bouillon,  Henry  himself,  wished  to  leave 
a  sufficient  force  to  prevent  any  convoys  of  provi- 
sions entering  the  Capital, — the  Parisians  were  so  re- 
duced, that  it  need  not  be  numerous, — and  with  the 
rest  of  the  army  to  take  up  a  strong  position  at 
Claie,  three  leagues  from  Meaux,  thus  compelling 
Farnese  either  to  make  a  long  circuit  or  to  give 
battle  in  a  position  advantageous  to  his  adversaries. 
In  the  latter  case,  there  was  every  hope  that  a 
decisive  victory  would  end  the  war,  in  the  former 
that  before  the  Spaniards  could  reach  Paris  the 
Royalists  would  be  within  the  walls. 

The  Leaguer  Villeroy  and  the  Huguenot  Aubigne 
agree  that  this  plan  would  have  been  successful. 
But  the  strenuous  opposition  and  specious  argu- 
ments of  Marshal  Biron  induced  the  King  to  with- 
draw his  forces  from  all  the  posts  they  occupied 
round  Paris,  and  to  offer  battle  to  Parma  in  the 
plain  of  Bondy. 

The  forces  of  the  Duke  of  Parma  were  about  equal 
to  those  of  the  King  of  France.  His  Spanish 
veterans  had  proved  their  quality  on  many  a  battle- 
field amid  Dutch  dykes  and  swamps,  in  many  a 
wearisome  siege  and  fiery  assault ;  their  stubborn 
valour  and  discipline,  their  rapacious  and  devilish 
cruelty  were  the  admiration  and  the  dread  of  Europe  ; 
but  to  their  general  this  expedition  into  France  was 
but  an  episode,  and  an  unwelcome  interruption  in 
the  great  contest  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  genius 
and  his  life,  seeing  the  resolute  countenance  and 
brave  array  of  his  opponents,  he  had  no  mind  to  risk 
in  a  pitched  battle  the  army  without  which  he  could 


22  2  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

not  hope  to  attain  the  object  of  his  ambition.  When 
he  found  himself  confronted  by  the  French  army  he 
took  up  a  position  which  Vv^as  soon  made  too  strong 
for  attack  by  the  labour  of  his  men,  trained  like  the 
Roman  legionaries  to  the  use  of  pick  and  spade. 
Henry  IV.,  following  the  usage  of  feudal  warfare, 
sent  a  herald  to  offer  battle.  Parma  replied,  that  he 
would  fight  when  and  where  it  was  convenient  to 
him  and  not  before.  Five  days  the  armies  remained 
opposite  each  other.  Then  by  some  skilful  manoeu- 
vres Farnese  threw  part  of  his  forces  across  the 
river,  and  taking  Lagny,  opened  the  navigation  of 
the  Marne.  Convoys  of  provisions  were  now  pouring 
into  Paris,  the  King  in  vain  attempted  to  lure  or 
compel  the  Spaniards  to  fight.  The  royal  army 
melted  away.  Henry  did  what,  under  the  circum- 
stances, was  probably  the  best  he  could.  He  distrib- 
uted his  mercenaries  as  garrisons  in  the  towns  near 
Paris,  and  himself  retired  into  the  Beauvaisis  with 
the  most  faithful  of  his  friends  and  a  small  force 
composed  mainly  of  cavalry. 

On  September  i8th  Mayenne  entered  Paris,  but  the 
past  sufferings  had  been  too  severe,  the  future  was 
too  threatening  for  the  sight  of  the  Prince  who  called 
himself  their  deliverer  to  excite  any  enthusiasm 
among  the  inhabitants.  Parma  also  visited  the  city 
he  had  relieved.  But  he  pleased  few.  He  humili- 
ated Mayenne,  making  him  feel  that  the  Lieutenant- 
General  of  the  Crown  of  France  must  not  presume  to 
think  himself  the  equal  of  the  Lieutenant  of  the  King 
of  Spain.  Even  those  Leaguers  who  were  not  unwil- 
ling to  be  the  servants  of  Philip  were  disgusted  when 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  Fra7ice?      223 

they  found  that  the  doubloons  earned  by  their  sub- 
servience were  not  forthcoming.  The  Parisians  bit- 
terly complained  that  the  Spaniard  did  not  clear  all 
the  neighbourhoodof  the  Royalist  garrisons.  Parma 
did  indeed  take  Provins  and  one  or  two  small  places 
and  next  attacked  Corbeil,  but  Corbeil  resisted  for 
three  weeks  and  the  siege  cost  the  lives  of  many  of 
his  veterans.  A  few  more  such  captures  and  his 
army  would  be  undone.  Deaf  therefore  to  the 
entreaties  of  his  allies  and  the  outcries  of  the  citizens 
the  Italian  marched  away,  compelling  Mayenne  to 
accompany  him,  pursued  and  harassed  as  far  as  the 
Belgian  frontier  by  the  King  and  his  horsemen. 

No  sooner  had  the  Spaniards  turned*  their  backs 
than  Paris  was  once  more  surrounded  on  every  side 
by  hostile  garrisons.  Yet  two  things  had  been 
achieved  by  Farnese.  He  had  proved  to  Mayenne 
that  he  was  powerless  without  Spanish  help  and  he 
had  prevented  Henry  from  entering  his  capital  a  con- 
queror and  a  Protestant.  Yet  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  he  would  have  accomplished  even  so  much, 
but  for  the  fatal  advice  of  Biron.  The  Marshal  was 
determined  to  prolong  the  Civil  War,  that  work-shop, 
as  La  Noue  terms  it,  of  every  iniquity  detestable  to 
honest  folk,  but  also,  as  Biron  conceived,  the  work- 
shop in  which  the  edifice  of  his  fortunes  might  be 
completed.  What  to  such  as  he  was  the  ruin  of  their 
country,  the  unutterable  misery  of  thousands,  com- 
pared with  the  satisfaction  of  their  ambition  ? 

Paris  continued  to  be  hemmed  in  by  the  royal  gar- 
risons. Provisions  became  ever  scantier  and  dearer, 
and  strange  diseases,  the  result  of  privation  and  un- 


224  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

natural  food,  decimated  the  population.  Trade  and 
industry  had  ceased.  The  colleges  of  the  University 
were  deserted.  Desolate  streets  and  empty  houses 
bore  witness  to  the  sufferings  of  a  town  which  even 
then  owed  much  of  its  prosperity  to  the  visitors  who 
were  attracted  by  the  fame  of  the  gayest  and  most 
pleasure-loving  capital  in  Western  Europe.  But  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  surprise  one  of  the  gates  was 
made  the  pretext  for  introducing  a  Spanish  garrison 
sufficient  to  guard  the  city  against  the  despair  of  its 
inhabitants  as  well  as  against  assault. 

As  Philip  II.  had  previously  embarked  on  the  In- 
vincible Armada  the  men  and  treasures  which  would 
have  completed  the  conquest  of  the  Netherlands,  so 
he  now  left  Parma  to  struggle  with  insufffcient 
resources  against  Prince  Maurice,  while  he  poured  his 
soldiers  into  France.  Four  or  five  thousand  Span- 
iards were  sent  into  Brittany.  The  wife  of  the  Duke 
of  Mercceur,  the  Leaguist  governor  of  that  province, 
was  descended  in  the  female  line  from  the  old  ducal 
House,  and  Mercoeur  had  counted  on  Breton  love  of 
independence  for  support  in  a  struggle  against  a 
prince  in  whose  veins  there  ran  no  drop  of  the  blood 
of  the  Duchess  Anne  ;  but  he  was  soon  so  hard  pressed 
by  the  Prince  of  Dombes,  the  chief  of  the  Loyalists, 
that  he  had  been  compelled  to  beg  for  help  from 
Philip  II.  No  sooner  had  the  Spaniards  landed  than 
Queen  Elizabeth,  who  could  not  allow  the  Breton 
ports  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  Spain,  sent  3,000  Eng- 
lish to  the  assistance  of  the  King's  forces  and  Brittany 
became  the  scene  of  a  tedious  war,  little  connected 
with  military  operations  in  other  parts  of  France,  in 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?      225 

which  English  and  Spaniards  consulted  rather  their 
own  interests  than  those  of  their  native  allies. 

In  Languedoc  also  the  League  had  been  unable  to 
hold  their  own  against  the  Duke  of  Montmorency 
without  foreign  help,  and  a  small  Spanish  army  of 
4,000  men  garrisoned  Toulouse. 

The  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  had  crossed  the  frontier 
as  the  champion  of  orthodoxy,  was  making  rapid  pro- 
gress in  Provence  ;  he  had  been  received  with  royal 
honours  by  the  Parliament  of  Aix,  had  entered  Mar- 
seilles and  scarcely  concealed  the  ambitious  hope  of 
reconstructing  the  Burgundian  kingdom,  a  name 
applied  at  different  times  to  states  of  very  various 
extent,  but  embracing  at  least  Provence,  Dauphin6 
and  the  country  between  the  Saone  and  Jura  as  well 
as  Savoy  and  much  of  south-western  Switzerland. 

On  all  sides  the  neighbours  of  France  were  pre- 
paring to  divide  the  spoils  of  the  expiring  monarchy, 
while  the  Spaniard  was  determined  that  the  lion's 
share  should  be  his. 

The  death  of  Sixtus  V.  (August  2^,  1590),  violent 
fanatic  though  he  was,  and  the  election  of  Gregory 
XIV.  added  to  the  difificulties  of  Henry  IV.  For 
Sixtus,  though  he  hated  heresy  much,  hated  Spain 
more.  Not  long  before  his  death  he  had  been  heard 
to  say  that  Elizabeth  of  England  and  Henry  of  Na- 
varre were  the  only  sovereigns  living  to  whom,  had 
they  not  been  heretics,  he  would  have  disclosed 
the  great  projects  he  meditated,  and  he  had  not  con- 
cealed his  displeasure  that  his  legate  Caetano  allowed 
himself  to  be  the  tool  of  the  Spanish  faction  in  Paris. 
One  of  the  most  ardent  preachers  of  the  League  an- 


2  26  Henry  of  Navarre. 


[1589 


nouncing  from  the  pulpit  the  death  of  God's  vicar, 
thanked  Him  for  deUvcring  Christendom  from  a 
"wicked  and  poHtical  Pope." 

But  the  opposition  of  open  enemies  was  perhaps 
not  the  greatest  difficulty  against  which  Henry  had 
to  contend.  His  Catholic  supporters  began  to  ques- 
tion the  sincerity  of  the  often  repeated  promise  to 
receive  instruction.  If  he  was  in  earnest,  why,  it  was 
asked,  defer  a  step  so  advantageous  to  his  interests? 
If  a  dozen  bishops  and  divines  could  not  supply  suffi- 
cient learning  to"  enlighten  the  royal  conscience, 
would  the  more  tumultuous  theology  of  a  council 
suffice? 

The  Huguenots,  on  the  other  hand,  complained 
that  it  profited  them  nothing  that  a  King  of  their  own 
faith  and  supported  by  their  arms  had  ascended  the 
throne ;  their  condition  had  been  better  during  the 
last  reign.  Now,  if  three  families  met  together  to 
pray  for  the  King's  prosperity,  if  a  citizen  sang  a 
psalm  in  his  shop,  or  had  among  his  wares  a  French 
bible  or  psalter,  they  were  punished  as  criminals  by 
the  Royal  Courts. 

The  Princes  of  the  King's  own  family  sought  to 
profit  by  the  general  discontent.  A  letter  was  inter- 
cepted addressed  to  the  Pope  by  the  Cardinal  of 
Bourbon,  the  brother  of  the  late  Prince  of  Conde,  in 
which  he  excused  himself  for  having  hitherto  ad- 
hered to  the  King  of  Navarre.  He  had  done  so  in 
the  confident  hope  of  his  conversion.  But  as  he 
was  now  convinced  that  this  hope  was  futile  and 
that  the  head  of  his  house  was  an  obstinate  heretic, 
incapable  of  reigning,  he  begged  the  Holy  Father  to 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?     227 

assist  him  in  establishing  his  right  to  the  succession. 
His  elder  brother,  the  Prince  of  Conty,  might  indeed 
seem  to  have  a  prior  claim,  but  he  was  deaf,  as  well 
as  deficient  in  mental  and  bodily  vigour.  The  Car- 
dinal indeed  was  himself  little  better  than  imbecile  ; 
but  his  abler  brother,  the  Count  of  Soissons,  had 
joined  in  the  intrigue  to  which  many  of  those  about 
the  King  were  more  or  less  privy,  even  his  mistress, 
the  Countess  of  Grammont. 

Soissons,  after  fighting  valiantly  by  his  cousin's 
side  at  Coutras,  had  been  encouraged  to  hope  for 
the  hand  of  the  King's  sister  Catherine.  The  match 
was  a  brilliant  one  for  a  poorly  endowed  younger 
son,  and  the  Princess  herself  was  well  worthy  of  a 
disinterested  attachment.  But  Henry  changed  his 
mind  and  told  Soissons  that  he  must  look  elsewhere 
for  a  wife.  The  lovers  thought  that  after  he  had 
himself  brought  them  together  the  King  had  no 
right  to  insist  upon  their  separation,  and  Mme.  de 
Grammont,  to  whose  care  Henry  had  entrusted  his 
sister,  permitted  or  encouraged  their  correspond- 
ence, and  listened  to  Soissons's  schemes  even  when 
stretched  beyond  the  bounds  of  loyalty.  Perhaps 
she  thus  sought  to  avenge  herself  for  the  more  fre- 
quent infidelities  and  the  growing  coldness  of  her 
lover. 

Henry  IV.  had  a  pretty  gift  of  writing  love  letters, 
in  which  Jove  might  have  found  matter  for  perennial 
laughter;  and  he  was  rarely  wise  enough  to  be  off 
with  the  old  love  before  he  was  on  with  the  new,  a 
want  of  prudence  which  was  the  source  of  much 
vexatious  and  undignified  embarrassment. 


22  8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [i589- 

Down  to  the  end  of  1590  he  continued  to  write  to 
Corisande  with  his  usual  protestations  of  eternal 
fidelity,  kissing  her  fair  eyes  a  million  times  and 
omitting  none  of  the  common  forms  of  epistolary 
fervour,  yet  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year — not  to 
mention  more  commonplace  gallantries — he  had 
been  ardently  courting  a  lady,  who  remained  un- 
moved by  an  offer  of  marriage  even  though  written 
in  his  blood,  and  by  the  well-known  letter  sent  on 
the  eve  of  an  expected  battle  with  Parma.  "  My 
mistress,  I  am  writing  this  line  to  you  the  night 
before  a  battle.  The  issue  is  in  God's  hands,  who 
has  already  ordained  what  it  shall  be,  and  what  He 
knows  to  be  for  His  glory  and  for  the  good  of  my 
people.  If  I  lose  it  you  will  never  again  see  me; 
for  I  am  not  the  man  to  turn  my  back.  Yet  this  I 
can  assure  you,  that  if  I  die,  my  last  thought  will  be 
of  God,  to  whose  mercy  I  commit  both  you  and  my- 
self;  my  last  but  one   of  you." 

This  Platonic  infidelity  to  his  Corisande  was  no- 
torious; not  less  notorious  the  intrigues  with  the 
abbesses  of  Poissy  and  Montmartre  which  had  re- 
lieved the  tedium  of  the  blockade  of  Paris.  Mme. 
de  Grammont,  perhaps  was  conscious  that  she 
had  become  elderly,  bloated,  and  red,  and  her 
coldly  sceptical  annotations  on  letters  written  two 
years  earlier  remain  to  show  how  little  she  was  the 
dupe  of  her  royal  lover's  professed  constancy — a 
constancy  he  declared  so  great  that  it  was  a  per- 
petual marvel  to  himself.  She  probably  felt  that  her 
tenure  of  the  of^cial  position  of  mistress  was  very 
precarious,  and  hoped  by  serving  the  ambition  of  the 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  Fraiice  ?     229 

younger  Bourbons  and  the  affections  of  Catherine 
of  Navarre  to  make  herself  friends  who  might  re- 
ceive her,  if  abandoned  by  the  King. 

Henry  IV.  on  discovering  the  intrigue  contented 
himself  with  summoning  his  cousins  to  attend  him, 
trusting  while  they  were  under  his  eye  to  be  able  to 
prevent  any  further  treachery,  and  it  is  possible  he 
might  have  continued  to  throw  himself  at  Cori- 
sande's  feet  and  to  kiss  her  hands — at  least  on  paper 
— had  not  a  new  passion  led  him  to  seize  so  decent 
a  pretext  for  ending  a  now  irksome  connection. 

During  the  campaign  of  1590  Bellegarde,  a  favour- 
ite officer,  asked  his  master  as  they  were  passing  by 
Coeuvres,  the  seat  of  Antoine  d'Estrees,  to  visit  a 
daughter  of  that  gentleman  whom  he  was  courting. 
The  King  went,  and  found  that  even  a  lover's  tongue 
had  done  scanty  justice  to  the  charms  of  Gabrielle. 
No  sooner  had  he  left  her  presence,  than  he  felt  that 
he  must  at  all  risks  return  ;  but  Coeuvres  was  sur- 
rounded by  parties  of  the  enemy.  Prudence  and 
dignity  were  laid  aside  ;  disguised  as  a  wood-cutter,  a 
bundle  of  straw  on  his  head,  the  King  of  France 
found  his  way  to  the  feet  of  his  mistress.  At  first 
she  laughed  at  the  swarthy,  grizzled,  hook-nosed  little 
man  who  aspired  to  be  the  favoured  rival  of  the  brill- 
iant Bellegarde,  a  model  of  manly  beauty.  But  she 
was  dazzled  by  the  splendid  prospect  of  becoming 
the  acknowledged  mistress  of  the  King,  and  Henry 
profuse  in  promise  was  scarcely  less  liberal  in 
performance. 

To  save  appearances  Gabrielle  was  married  to  a 
M.  de  Liancourt,  a  widower  with  eleven  children,  so 


230  Henry  of  Navarre.  [i589 

ugly  and  elderly  that  he  was  not  likely  to  provoke 
comparisons  unfavourable  to  the  King.  To  the 
young  lady  this  was  the  least  satisfactory  part  of 
the  arrangement,  and  after  the  King  had  publicly 
acknowledged  her  first  child,  the  superfluous  husband 
was  got  rid  of  by  an  indecent  divorce. 

Mme.  de  Liancourt  was  successively  created 
Marchioness  of  Monceaux  and  Duchess  of  Beaufort. 
The  portraits  of  the  fair  Gabrielle  scarcely  justify  the 
extravagant  terms  in  which  contemporaries  celebrate 
her  beauty;  and  some  scepticism  is  perhaps  justi- 
fied when  we  reflect  that  during  her  lifetime  there 
was  every  motive  to  flatter  the  all  powerful  favour- 
ite, and  that  when  dead  she  became  a  legend. 

When,  in  her  twentieth  year,  Gabrielle  first  met 
the  King,  her  figure,  although  already  too  mature, 
was  exquisitely  proportioned.  Her  complexion  was 
fair  and  brilliant,  her  golden  hair  contrasted  with 
dark,  well  pencilled  eyebrows,  and  long  lashes 
shadowing  blue  eyes,  which  though  soft  were  bright 
and  lively.  Her  regular  and  placid  features — whose 
rare  beauty,  says  Aubigne,  was  free  from  all  wanton- 
ness— suggested  a  candid  and  virginal  innocence 
strangely  inconsistent  with  the  scandals  reported  of 
her  youthful  depravity.  These  stories,  too  vile  to 
bear  repetition,  were  probably  false,  but  the  reputa- 
tion of  her  family  was  thoroughly  bad.  Her  mother, 
a  woman  of  no  character,  was  one  of  a  house  noto- 
rious for  gallantry.  She  and  her  sisters  had  been 
known  as  the  seven  deadly  sins. 

It  is  not  therefore  surprising,  that  the  virtue  of 
Gabrielle  was  not  of  a  kind  to  take  alarm  at  the 


1592J       Ca7i  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  f     231 

bargain  by  which  she  passed  into  the  King's  posses- 
sion, nor  even  sufficient  to  induce  her  to  mitigate 
the  shame  of  it  by  observing  from  the  first  an  in- 
violable fidelity  to  her  royal  lover.  The  King's 
letters  prove  that  Bellegarde  at  any  rate  continued 
to  be  a  not  unfavoured  rival. 

"  The  influence  your  eyes  have  on  me,"  he  writes 
on  one  occasion,  "  saved  you  from  half  my  re^ 
proaches.  But  if  I  had  known  what  I  have  since 
learnt  of  my  rival's  visit,  I  should  not  have  seen  you, 
but  have  broken  with  you  for  good.  .  .  .  What 
more  can  you  promise  than  you  have  already  prom- 
ised ?  What  oath  can  you  swear  that  you  have  not 
twice  broken  ?  "  It  is  characteristic  that  Henry  ends 
his,  no  doubt  just,  complaints  by  protesting  that  he 
would  give  four  years  of  his  life  to  reach  his  mistress 
as  soon  as  his  letter,  and  that  a  few  days  later  he 
should  thank  her  for  the  gift  of  her  likeness  in  such 
terms  as  these  :  "  I  am  writing  to  you,  my  dear  love, 
at  the  foot  of  your  picture,  which  I  worship  because 
it  is  meant  for  you,  not  because  it  is  like  you.  I  am 
a  competent  judge,  since  you  are  painted  in  all 
perfection  in  my  soul,  in  my  heart,  in  my  eyes." 

Men  who  allow  themselves  the  grossest  licence 
not  unfrequently  expect  their  women  to  attain  to  an 
almost  ideal  standard  of  constancy  and  purity. 
Henry  was  less  exacting.  His  experience  of  married 
life  had  taught  him  to  give  and  take  in  such  matters; 
and  Gabrielle,  though  not  a  woman  of  much  ability 
— her  prayer-book  was  her  whole  library, — knew  how 
to  flatter  the  King,  "  the  bravest  man  in  all  the 
world,"  as  she  called   him  ;  she   protested    that  the 


232  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

least  of  his  sufferings  was  mortal  to  her.  "  I  am  the 
Princess  Constance,"  she  writes,  "  full  of  feeling  for 
what  concerns  you,  insensible  to  all  the  world 
besides." 

On  the  whole,  and  compared  with  the  intrigues 
which  caused  much  of  the  disquiet  and  sadly  tar- 
nished the  glory  of  Henry's  later  years,  his  connec- 
tion with  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  was  neither  harmful  to 
the  State  nor  disgraceful  to  himself.  Even  austere 
Calvinists  commended  her  modestly  dignified  be- 
haviour, "  that  of  a  wife  rather  than  of  a  concubine," 
and  occupying  a  position  most  exposed  to  envy  and 
malevolence  she  yet  made  few  enemies. 

Urged  on  the  one  hand  by  the  Catholics  to  abjure 
his  heresy,  and  on  the  other  by  the  Protestants  to 
make  their  condition  under  a  king  of  their  own 
faith  more  tolerable,  the  King  determined  upon  one 
more  effort  to  crush  his  enemies  by  force  of  arms, 
before  attempting  a  final  settlement  of  questions 
with  which  as  a  victor  he  would  be  able  to  deal  more 
satisfactorily.  To  quiet  the  impatience  of  the  Hugue- 
nots he  meantime  revoked  such  edicts  as  had  been 
extorted  from  Henry  HI.  by  the  League,  and  de- 
clared those  of  1577  and  1580  to  be  still  in  force; 
while  he  endeavoured  to  allay  the  apprehensions  of 
the  Catholics  by  reiterating  his  promise  to  "  receive 
instruction,"  and  his  firm  determination  to  maintain 
the  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  in  all  her  dignity 
and  privileges.  He  at  the  same  time  pointed  out  that 
religion  was  but  the  pretext  under  which  his  foreign 
and  domestic  enemies  were  pursuing  the  ruin  and 
partition  of  the  kingdom. 


1692]       Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  ?     233 

By  assembling  a  strong  army  of  regular  troops, 
composed  for  the  most  part  of  foreign  and  Protestant 
mercenaries,  the  King  trusted  to  avoid  two  of  the 
difficulties  which  had  hitherto  prevented  him  from 
reaping  the  full  advantage  of  his  victories.  The  one 
was  that  of  keeping  the  nobles  and  gentlemen  who 
served  as  volunteers  in  the  field  during  a  protracted 
campaign  or  siege ;  the  other  was  that  which  arose 
from  the  determination  of  many  of  his  Catholic  sup- 
porters that  he  should  not  be  too  easily  successful 
and  thus  escape  the  necessity  of  abjuration. 

Turenne,  ably  seconded  by  the  arguments  of  an 
English  embassy,  was  sent  to  the  Protestant  Courts 
of  Germany,  and  when  he  returned  at  the  head  of 
6,CK)0  German  Reiters  and  10,000  lansquenets,  he  had 
fairly  earned  the  reward  of  the  staff  of  marshal  and 
of  the  hand  of  the  heiress  of  the  La  Marks,  in  her 
own  right  Duchess  of  Bouillon  and  sovereign  Princess 
of  Sedan. 

Elizabeth  also,  urged  by  Walsingham  and  by  Es- 
sex, forgot  her  wonted  parsimony,  and  6,ooo  men 
well  supplied  with  artillery  and  with  all  the  materials 
of  war  landed  under  the  command  of  the  favourite 
at  Dieppe. 

The  English  Queen  once  more  asked  for  Calais 
as  the  price  of  her  assistance  ;  but  to  this  de- 
mand Henry  would  not  listen.  It  was  as  bad,  he 
said,  to  be  eaten  by  the  lioness  as  by  the  lion  ;  and 
whatever  his  enemies  might  do  he  would  not  buy 
the  throne  by  partitioning  the  kingdom  over  which 
he  aspired  to  rule.  Like  the  true  mother  in  Solo- 
mon's   judgment,    rather    than    receive    part   of   a 


234  Henry  of  Navarre.  L1589 

mangled  corpse,  he  would  altogether  forego  the  pos- 
session of  his  own. 

He  employed  the  spring  and  early  summer  of 
1591  in  reducing  Chartres  and  other  places  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Paris  while  his  captains  attacked 
the  towns  held  by  the  League  in  Normandy.  Before 
the  end  of  the  summer,  the  double  crosses  of  the 
League  floated  only  over  the  walls  of  Havre  and 
Rouen. 

The  Parisians  were  again  sorely  straitened  for 
food.  Mayenne  was  execrated  for  allowing  Chartres, 
the  granary  of  Paris,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  The  preachers  had  promised  their  congre- 
gations that  no  such  triumph  should  ever  be  granted 
to  the  wicked.  Should  this  happen,  exclaimed  one 
fanatic,  might  the  devil  have  his  soul —  but  no,  never 
would  the  Bearnese,  that  dog  heretic  and  tyrant, 
take  Chartres. 

Mayenne  had  summoned  a  meeting  of  the  Estates- 
General  at  Rheims,  but  on  the  day  fixed  so  few  rep- 
resentatives appeared  that  no  attempt  was  made  to 
hold  a  sitting.  Yet  clearly,  unless  the  succession 
was  settled,  a  pretender  to  the  throne  selected  and 
recognised,  the  opposition  to  Henry  IV.  could  not 
be  continued. 

The  King  of  Spain  was  urgent  that  the  claim  of 
his  daughter  should  be  at  once  acknowledged.  He 
was  assured  by  the  Sixteen  and  by  the  extreme  party 
that  nothing  could  delight  them  more  than  that  he 
should  reign  over  them;  if  that  might  not  be,  then 
they  and  all  good  Catholics  would  be  the  loyal  sub- 
jects of  the  Infanta  and    of  an}-   son-in-law  it   might 


1592]       Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  f     235 

please  his  Majesty  to  choose.  The  letters  in  which 
the  faction  expressed  their  devotion  to  Philip  II. 
were  intercepted  by  the  Royalists  and  forwarded  by 
the  King  to  Mayenne.  The  Lieutenant-General  of 
the  League  was  already  sufficiently  perplexed  by 
the  escape  from  prison  of  his  nephew,  the  young 
Duke  of  Guise,  whom  he  dreaded  as  his  most 
dangerous  rival.  Guise,  as  the  son  of  their  martyred 
hero,  was  highly  popular  with  the  Catholic  mob, 
and  his  marriage  with  the  Infanta  and  election  as 
King  by  the  Estates  might  have  united  the  sup- 
porters of  the  House  of  Lorraine,  the  Spaniards  and 
the  democratic  party,  and  have  reduced  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General of  the  League  to  insignificance. 

Mayenne  was  therefore  scarcely  less  anxious  than 
Henry  IV.  to  prevent  the  marriage  of  his  nephew 
with  the  Spanish  Princess.  His  wisest  and  most 
staunch  adviser,  Jeannin,  began  to  urge  what  Villeroy 
had  seen  from  the  beginning :  that  the  League  could 
be  maintained  only  by  Spanish  help.  "  We  cannot," 
he  said,  "  do  otherwise  than  ascribe  to  the  King  of 
Spain  the  credit  and  gratitude  due  for  our  existence, 
but  the  payment  which  he  demands  involves  the 
sacrifice  of  the  independence  and  future  of  France." 
He  therefore  maintained  that  Mayenne  ought  to 
conclude  an  arrangement  on  the  best  terms  possible 
with  Henry  of  Navarre.  The  King's  conversion  in- 
deed might  be  insisted  upon,  but,  if  this  essential 
point  was  secured,  further  resistance  would  be  both 
foolish  and  criminal. 

The  Duke  affected  to  be  convinced  by  the  argu- 
ments  of   his   followers,    but    was  none  the  less  de- 


236  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

termined  to  let  matters  drift,  careless,  provided  he 
could  glut  his  selfish  greed,  whether  France  became 
Spanish  or  perished,  the  prey  of  more  ignoble 
domestic   enemies. 

Meantime  the  sympathy  of  all  decent  citizens  in 
Paris  had  been  alienated  by  the  violence  of  the 
fanatics,  who,  trusting  to  the  support  of  the  con- 
siderable Spanish  garrison,  had  established  a  reign 
of  terror,  and  appealed  although  in  vain  to  popular 
passion.  Privation,  famine  and  pestilence  had  so 
broken  the  spirit  of  the  mob,  that  not  even  the 
highly  spiced  invectives  of  the  preachers  and  the 
prospect  of  licence  and  plunder  could  arouse  it  to 
acts  of  violence. 

By  the  sale  of  Crown  lands  and  of  much  of  his 
private  domain,  the  King  had  raised  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  for  the  expenses  of  the  campaign. 
He  was  joined  in  September  by  the  English  com- 
manded by  Essex,  and  on  the  last  day  of  the  month 
he  met,  in  the  valley  of  the  Aisne,  the  Reiters  and 
lansquenets  of  Turenne,  led  by  the  Prince  of  Anhalt. 
In  November  he  undertook  the  siege  of  Rouen  with 
an  army  composed  of  between  5,000  and  6,000 
English,  as  many  Swiss,  14,000  Germans  and  only 
5,000  French — an  army  of  Protestants  and  merce- 
naries. The  capture  of  Rouen,  the  second  town  in 
the  kingdom,  would  have  made  him  absolute  master 
of  Normandy  and  of  north-western  France,  would 
have  dealt  a  fatal  blow  to  the  League,  and  have  com- 
pelled the  Parisians  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
a  heretic  king.  Unfortunately  Henry  was  compelled 
to  allow  the  Catholic    nobles  to  occupy  the   most 


1592]      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?     237 

important  posts  in  his  army  ;  had  he  not  done  so,  it 
would  have  been  said,  that  trusting  none  but  heretics 
he  obviously  intended  the  ruin  of  the  Church.  As 
it  was,  the  success  of  the  King's  plans  was  made  to 
depend  on  the  co-operation  of  men  who  were  de- 
termined that  they  should  not  succeed  :  the  baser, 
like  old  Biron,  till  their  greed  was  gorged  ;  the  less  self- 
seeking,  till,  by  his  conversion,  he  had  pledged  himself 
to  maintain  the  established  religion. 

Now,  when  their  services  would  have  been  of  ines- 
timable value,  Henry  must  sorely  have  missed  two 
men,  so  greatly  trusted  and  respected  both  by  Calvin- 
ists  and  Romanists  that  their  employment  would  have 
given  umbrage  to  none.  La  Noue,  whose  noble  char- 
acter and  Christian  resignation  to  the  indignities  and 
sufferings  inflicted  on  him  in  his  Flemish  prison  by 
the  mean  rancour  of  Philip  II.,  had  stirred  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  cold  and  pitiless  Parma,  whose  integrity 
even  Catherine  de'  Medici  had  not  doubted,  whose 
disinterestedness  no  temptation  had  ever  shaken,  who 
had  been  as  unsparing  of  his  fortune  as  of  his  blood 
in  the  service  of  his  religion  and  of  his  country,  who, 
keenly  sensible  of  the  pleasures  of  retirement,  of 
study  and  family  life,  had  spent  his  years  hurrying 
from  battle-field  to  battle-field — La  Noue,  the  Protes- 
tant Bayard,  without  fear  and  without  reproach,  had 
fallen  in  August  (1591)  before  Lamballe  in  Brittany. 
The  day  before  his  death,  gathering  a  spray  of 
laurel,  and  handing  it  to  a  kinsman  he  had  said : 
"  There,  cousin,  is  all  the  reward  that  you  and  I 
may  expect." 

Scarely  less  lamented  or  less  honoured  by  friends 


238  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589 

and  foes,  Chatillon,  Coligny's  son,  had  died,  con- 
sumed, so  it  was  reported,  by  disappointment  and 
melancholy,  shortly  after  his  skill  as  an  engineer  had 
compelled  the  surrender  of  Chartres.  His  house  of 
Chatillon  had  been  pillaged,  his  young  brother  D'An- 
delot  had  been  taken  prisoner,  and,  seduced  by  the 
caresses  of  the  Guises,  had  forgotten  his  cause,  his 
religion  and  his  father's  blood.  His  son,  a  mere 
child,  had  fallen  fighting  against  the  Spaniards  in 
Holland.  His  services  had  been  requited  by  neglect, 
although  the  King  with  ready  tears  lamented  the 
worth  he  had  slighted  when  living.  "Alas!  I  loved 
him  well ;  he  should  have  opened  his  heart  to  me 
and  it  would  have  been  my  study  to  content  him." 

Biron,  who  had  been  sent  to  open  the  siege  of 
Rouen  in  November,  delayed  the  attack  on  the  ill- 
fortified  town  and  citadel  until  the  Governor,  Villars, 
a  man  prepared  to  sell  himself  to  the  highest  bidder, 
but  who,  to  enhance  his  price,  was  determined  to 
give  no  ambiguous  proofs  of  his  valour  and  capacity, 
had  had  ample  time  to  complete  his  preparations. 
Great  stores  had  been  accumulated.  The  old  walls 
had  been  strengthened  and  new  fortifications  added 
on  every  side.  All  useless  mouths  and  all  who  were 
suspected  of  royalism  had  been  sent  out  of  the  city, 
and  everything  done  to  raise  the  spirits  and  confirm 
the  resolution  of  those  who  remained. 

Never  would  the  citizens  of  Rouen  acknowledge  a 
heretic  as  King  of  France ;  such  was  the  answer  to 
the  herald  who  bade  them  open  their  gates  to  their 
rightful  sovereign  ;  and  this  temper  was  sustained  by 
constant  processions,  solemn  oaths  to  resist  to  the 


1592]       Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  f     239 

death,  fiery  sermons  and  eloquent  decrees  of  the  Par- 
h'ament,  and  lest  these  should  not  sufifice,  by  gibbets 
prepared  in  all  public  places  for  the  traitors  who  first 
spoke  of  treaty  or  surrender. 

It  was  a  perilous  venture  to  begin  the  siege  of 
a  strongly  garrisoned  and  well  provisioned  city  in 
November.  Yet  it  is  possible  that,  had  Biron  not 
been  wanting  in  loyalty  or  resolution,  the  city  might 
have  been  carried  by  an  immediate  assault :  in  any 
case,  the  King  was  compelled  to  use  an  army  which 
his  finances  could  not  maintain  in  idleness.  Unfor- 
tunately the  winter  proved  exceptionally  severe. 
The  trenches  could  scarcely  be  dug  in  the  frozen 
ground  ;  sickness  and  privations  decimated  the  be- 
siegers. Before  the  end  of  the  year,  Mornay  had  to 
be  sent  to  beg  for  further  help  from  Elizabeth. 

The  old  Queen  was  in  no  pleasant  mood.  She 
complained  that  her  men  had  been  recklessly  ex- 
posed, that  they  had  borne  more  than  their  share  of 
the  hardships  and  privations  of  the  siege ;  out  of 
5,000  barely  600  survived.  Henceforth  she  would 
only  assist  the  King  of  France  with  her  prayers. 
She  was  highly  indignant  with  Essex  for  not  coming 
back  when  summoned  and  for  exposing  himself  in 
the  trenches.  As  for  the  King  himself,  his  reck- 
lessness was  incurable — apparently  he  wished  to  be 
killed,  yet  he  must  know  that  everything  depended 
on  his  life.  She  even  blamed  the  revocation  of  the 
edicts  against  the  Protestants  as  impolitic. 

The  United  Provinces  were  less  easily  discouraged 
— Parma  might  as  well  be  fought  in  France  as  in  the 
Netherlands.     Early  in  January  a   Dutch  squadron 


240  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1589- 

brought  3,000  men  and  large  supplies  up  the  Seine, 
and  the  losses  of  the  besiegers  were  more  than  made 
up  by  the  numerous  French  Royalists  who  hurried  to 
the  King's  standard,  when  it  was  known  that  Far- 
nese  was  assembling  his  forces  for  the  relief  of 
Rouen. 

By  the  end  of  January,  Parma  and  Mayenne  had 
met  and  were  advancing  through  Ponthieu.  The 
King,  who  had  been  pushing  the  siege  with  indomi- 
table energy,  endeavouring  by  his  personal  exertions 
to  remedy  all  that  was  done  amiss  or  left  undone  by 
Biron,  believed  himself  strong  enough  to  hold  the 
allies  in  check  without  breaking  up  his  leaguer. 

Leaving  the  Marshal  with  his  infantry  before 
Rouen,  he  advanced  to  meet  the  Spaniards  with 
3,000  Reiters,  2,000  French  horsemen,  and  2,000 
dragoons,  a  name  then  first  given  to  troops  who 
were  used  as  mounted  infantry. 

Near  the  little  town  of  Aumale  he  met  the  enemy 
23,000  or  24,000  strong,  and  when  himself  leading  a 
reconnaissance,  was  surrounded  by  a  much  larger 
force  of  cavalry.  Speedy  flight  would  have  ensured 
his  safety,  but  he  persisted  in  charging  to  cover  the 
retreat  of  his  escort  ;  he  was  wounded  by  a  ball  which 
pierced  the  bow  of  his  saddle,  and  was  only  saved  from 
capture  or  death  by  the  devotion  of  those  around  him 
and  by  the  caution  of  Parma,  who  checked  the  pur- 
suit, since  he  was  convinced  that  the  King  of  France 
would  not  have  ventured  so  boldly  unless  supported 
by  a  considerable  force.  When  he  learnt  what  an 
opportunity  he  had  lost,  he  exclaimed  in  his  vexa- 
tion  that  he  had  supposed  himself    to  be    fighting 


1592]       Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?     241 

against  a  general  and  not  a  guerilla  chief.  In  little 
more  than  a  week  Henry  was  again  in  the  saddle, 
harassing  the  advance  of  the  Leaguers,  cutting  off 
their  parties  and  beating  up  their  quarters.  On 
February  17th  he  attacked  their  camp  by  night,  carry- 
ing ofT  much  booty  and  many  prisoners.  Among 
the  latter  the  Count  of  Chaligny,  a  prince  of  the 
House  of  Lorraine,  was  captured  by  Chicot,  the 
Court  jester,  a  Gascon  of  sense  and  courage  as  well 
as  of  merry  wit.  "  Here,  Henriot,"  he  said,  bringing 
his  prize  to  the  King,  "is  a  present  for  you."  The 
Count,  enraged  at  the  tone  and  quality  of  his  captor, 
struck  him  so  violently  on  the  head  with  the  pommel 
of  his  sword  that  Chicot  never  jested  again. 

The  King's  energy  so  delayed  the  advance  of 
Parma,  that  it  was  not  till  the  end  of  February  that 
he  found  himself  within  striking  distance  of  Rouen. 
But  Biron,  instead  of  pressing  the  siege  with  energy, 
had  allowed  himself  to  be  surprised  by  Villars  in 
a  furious  sally  on  February  24th.  The  Royal- 
ists lost  800  men,  their  ammunition  and  mines 
were  destroyed,  their  batteries  overthrown,  and 
many  of  the  guns  triumphantly  dragged  into  the 
town.  The  old  Marshal  himself  was  wounded. 
Parma  might  have  now  entered  Rouen,  but  Villars 
and  Mayenne  were  so  elated,  that  they  trusted  to 
hold  the  town  without  the  assistance  of  a  Spanish 
garrison.  More  than  one  intercepted  despatch  of 
Mendoza  and  Tassis  had  been  forwarded  to  Mayenne 
by  Henry  IV.,  and  their  contents  had  increased  the 
fear  and  suspicion  with  which  he  regarded  his  allies. 
This  jealousy   of    Parma  .perhaps    counterbalanced 


242  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1689- 

the  injury  done  to  the  royal  cause  by  the  half-hearted 
service  of  Biron.  But  when  Farnese  fell  back  to  the 
Somme,  the  people  of  Rouen  found  that  they  had 
been  premature  in  thanking  their  patron  Saint  for 
delivering  them  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Heretic,  who, 
after  repairing  and  strengthening  his  works,  was 
again  pressing  the  siege  in  person.  Elizabeth,  less 
bitter  since  the  safe  return  of  Essex,  and  moved 
perhaps  by  her  favourite's  report  of  Henry's  roman- 
tic admiration  of  the  Virgin  Queen,  a  topic  on 
which  he  never  failed  to  dilate  with  Gascon  emphasis 
in  her  subject's  presence,  sent  timely  reinforcements, 
while  the  Dutch  fleet  prevented  any  supplies  reach- 
ing the  town  by  water. 

Urgent  messages  came  from  Villars  to  Mayenne 
and  Parma:  unless  relieved  by  April  20th  he  must 
capitulate. 

In  four  days  the  Spanish  general  marched  from 
the  Somme  to  the  Seine.  The  King  of  France  had 
dismissed  his  cavalry  ;  his  infantry  was  scattered  in 
the  towns  round  Rouen,  where  they  had  been 
quartered  to  recover  from  the  sufferings  of  the 
winter.  Henry  himself  was  at  Dieppe  when  he 
received  the  news  that  Parma  was  again  marching 
on  Rouen  (April  19th).  He  at  once  flung  himself  on 
his  horse  and  rode  without  drawing  rein  till  he 
reached  the  camp.  It  was  midnight,  but  he  found 
his  men  already  in  full  retreat.  Nor  could  he  blame 
the  resolution  of  his  captains.  It  would  have  been 
madness  to  attempt  to  hold  their  extended  lines 
against  such  an  enemy  as  Parma,  and  when  threat- 
ened both  in  rear  and  front  by  far  superior  forces. 


1592,1      Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France?     243 

The  King  determined  that  he  would  at  any  rate 
fall  back  no  farther  than  was  absolutely  necessary. 
He  took  up  a  strong  position  three  leagues  from 
Rouen,  and  there  awaited  the  feudal  militia  he  had 
already  summoned  to  his  standard,  and  the  troops 
dispersed  in  the  neighbouring  towns.  On  the  next 
day  1,500  of  the  Norman  gentry  rode  into  camp,  and 
before  the  week  was  out  (April  26th)  he  was  once 
more  at  the  head  of  18,000  infantry  and  6,000  cavalry. 
Meanwhile  Parma  and  Mayenne  had  destroyed  the 
siege  works,  entered  Rouen  in  triumph,  reinforced 
the  garrison  and  relieved  the  necessities  of  the 
inhabitants.  Parma  wished  to  attack  the  King  at 
once  before  he  had  collected  his  forces  ;  but  Mayenne 
persisted  that  Rouen  was  only  half  relieved  so  long 
as  the  Royalists  held  Caudebec  and  commanded  the 
navigation  of  the  river.  Caudebec  accordingly  was 
invested  on  the  24th  of  April  and  surrendered  on 
the  26th.  Parma,  while  directing  the  attack,  had  been 
wounded  in  the  arm.  Without  changing  counte- 
nance he  continued  to  point  out  how  his  batteries 
should  be  placed.  But  his  physical  endurance  was 
not  equal  to  his  courage ;  high  fever  set  in,  and  he 
was  obliged  to  leave  the  command  to  Mayenne,  who, 
as  soon  as  Caudebec  had  surrendered,  took  up  his 
quarters  at  Ivetot,  a  few  miles  to  the  north. 

When  the  King  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an 
army  superior  in  numbers  to  the  enemy,  he  marched 
round  their  rear  and  threatened  their  communica- 
tions with  Havre  and  Lillebonne.  Constant  engage- 
ments were  fought  from  April  28th  to  May  9th  in 
which  the  Royalists  had  the  upper  hand.     The  sup- 


244  Henry  of  Navarre,  [1589- 

plies  of  the  confederates  were  intercepted,  and  they 
were  reduced  to  extreme  want. 

The  King's  hopes  ran  high — with  a  wide  tidal  river, 
commanded  by  the  Dutch  fleet,  in  their  rear,  either 
his  enemies  must  starve  or  they  must  attempt  to 
force  their  way  to  Picardy  or  Rouen  and  give  battle 
to  an  army  superior  in  numbers,  and  which  was  daily 
growing.  Surely,  he  said,  they  were  delivered  into 
his  hands.  But  he  forgot  the  ill-will  of  his  own 
captains  and  the  genius  of  his  opponent.  Parma, 
though  his  weak  constitution  was  still  suffering  from 
the  pain  and  fever  of  his  wound,  left  his  bed  and  dur- 
ing the  night  of  May  loth  led  his  army  back  towards 
Caudebec.  Henry  IV.  fell  on  the  retreating  Span- 
iards, while  Biron  attacked  Mayenne's  French.  The 
Leaguers  were  thrown  into  such  confusion  that  the 
younger  Biron  engaged,  if  his  father  would  give  him 
800  horse,  to  complete  the  rout.  "  What,"  shouted 
the  Marshal  with  an  oath,  "  would  you  send  us  back 
to  plant  cabbages  at  Biron  ?  "  As  he  turned  away 
the  young  man  muttered  that,  were  he  the  King,  his 
father's  head  would  not  long  remain  on  his  shoulders. 
But  even  so,  enclosed  as  he  was  by  superior  forces 
and  by  a  river  as  broad  as  an  arm  of  the  sea,  there 
was,  Henry  supposed,  no  escape  for  Parma. 

But  the  Italian  strategist  while  tossing  in  the  fever 
of  his  wound  had  formed  the  plan  which  he  now  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  into  execution.  For  some  days  all 
available  boats,  rafts  and  pontoons  had  been  col- 
lected by  his  orders  at  Rouen,  and  on  the  night  of  the 
1 2th  were  sent  down  with  the  ebb  tide  to  Caudebec. 
Before    morning    dawned    the    greater   part  of  the 


1692]       Can  a  Heretic  be  King  of  France  ?     245 

Catholic  army  had  already  crossed  to  the  southern 
bank  of  the  river.  Their  cavalry  and  the  guns  of  a 
hastily  constructed  fort  kept  the  King's  horse  at  a 
distance  from  the  place  of  embarkment  till  the  re- 
maining infantry  and  artillery  had  been  ferried 
across.  Then  the  Catholic  horse  retreated  along 
the  river  bank  to  Rouen  with  such  speed  that  the 
Royalists  could   not   intercept  them. 

But  although  Farnese  had  accomplished  a  feat 
which  raised  to  a  still  greater  height  his  reputation 
as  the  first  general  of  that  century,  he  was  far  from 
having  extricated  himself  from  danger.  The  King 
had,  even  yet,  a  chance  of  annihilating  his  opponents. 
They  could  not  shut  themselves  up  in  Rouen,  which 
was  but  scantily  provisioned.  Henry  IV.  saw  that 
it  was  possible  for  him  to  send  his  8,000  cavalry 
across  the  Seine  at  Pont  de  I'Arche  to  break  down 
the  bridges  across  the  Eure,  and  delay  the  advance 
of  the  Catholics  until  he  should  have  time  to  throw 
himself  with  his  infantry  between  his  enemies  and 
Paris.  But  his  generals  protested  that  Parma  had 
too  great  a  start,  that  pursuit  was  useless.  The 
Swiss  and  some  of  the  Germans  refused  to  move  till 
they  had  received  their  arrears  of  pay,  conduct  so 
much  in  accordance  with  the  usual  practice  of  these 
hirelings,  that  we  need  not  suppose  it  to  have  been 
suggested  to  them  by  the  traitors  in  the  royal  camp. 

Farnese,  suffering  from  his  wound  and  from  his 
constitutional  ill-health,  hurried  on  past  Paris,  leav- 
ing 1,500  Walloons  to  reinforce  the  Spanish  garri- 
son, and  reached  the  Netherlands  with  an  army 
reduced  to  half  its  numbers  bv  sickness  or  the  sword. 


y 


i 


246  Henry  of  Navarre.  ti592 

The  subsidies  of  the  Dutch  had  been  weU  invested. 
Mayenne,  who  had  gained  httlc  honour  in  the  cam- 
paign, lay  sick  of  an  illness  caused  by  debauchery  at 
Rouen. 

But  the  King  was  in  no  position  to  profit  by  the 
weakness  of  his  enemies.  His  treasury  was  empty. 
He  could  not  pay  his  Swiss  and  German  mercenaries ; 
and  without  pay  they  would  serve  no  longer.  The 
French  nobles  and  gentlemen  hurried  to  their  homes, 
as  their  custom  was  after  a  campaign.  It  therefore 
only  remained  for  him  to  dismiss  with  gracious 
words  his  English  and  Dutch  allies,  and  to  abandon 
the  hope,  so  nearly  realised,  of  crushing  his  opponents 
and  of  entering  his  capital,  the  master  of  his  kingdom 
on  his  own  terms. 

In  all  parts  of  the  country  from  Languedoc  to 
Lorraine,  and  from  Savoy  to  Brittany,  the  civil  war 
dragged  on  during  the  summer,  on  the  whole  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Royalists.  But  the  most  marked 
result  was  the  increased  misery  and  devastation  of 
the  country,  and  that  everywhere  the  Leaguers  be- 
came more  and  more  dependent  on  the  money  and 
men  of  Spain,  and  therefore  more  and  more  the  ob- 
eequious  clients  of  Philip  II. 

The  death  of  Marshal  Biron  before  Epernay,  de- 
livered the  King  from  the  exorbitant  pretensions  of 
a  man  whom  he  could  not  afford  to  offend,  and  whose 
insatiable  vanity  and  selfish  ambition  made  his  great 
parts,  improved  though  they  were  by  study  and 
knowledge  of  books,  as  well  as  by  a  wide  experience 
of  camps  and  courts,  of  little  use  to  the  cause  he 
served,  or  to  his  country. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    KING     GOES   TO     MASS   AND    ENTERS   PARIS. 


I  592-1  595. 

I|HE  great  hopes  founded  by  Henry  on 
the  powerful  army  which  had  been 
so  painfully  collected,  were  baffled. 
Rouen  and  Paris  had  been  snatched 
from  his  grasp.  Yet  it  is  not  true  that 
after  a  struggle  of  two  years,  after 
heroic  exertions  and  brilliant  victories,  the  King  was 
in  no  better  position  than  before  Ivry. 

Frenchmen  had  at  least  learnt  to  know  what 
manner  of  man  it  was  who  claimed  their  allegiance 
as  the  legitimate  heir  of  St.  Lewis.  His  gay  and 
chivalrous  valour,  his  jovial  wit,  his  genial  affability, 
which,  free  from  all  condescension,  rather  raised  those 
to  whom  it  was  shown  than  lowered  him  who  showed 
it,  his  marvellous  placability,  his  humanity,  his  ready 
sympathy,  nay  his  very  vices  recommended  him  to 
his  countrymen.  Even  the  most  credulous  must 
have  smiled  when  they  heard  Henry  of  Bourbon 
inveighed  against  from  the  pulpit,  as  a  merciless  and 
fanatical  tyrant ! 

847 


\ 


248  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

In  Paris  the  Moderates  at  length  began  to  stir. 
In  the  previous  year  (1590)  Mayenne  himself  had 
broken  the  power  of  the  fanatical  faction.  The 
Parliament,  although  composed  of  those  mem- 
bers who  had  refused  to  follow  their  more  loyal 
brethren  when  they  seceded  from  the  rebellious 
capital,  had  never  entirely  forgotten  the  conservative 
traditions  of  their  profession  ;  and,  by  acquitting  a 
lawyer  accused  of  royalist  proclivities,  aroused  the 
anger  of  the  "  Sixteen."  The  people,  they  exclaimed, 
must  seek  by  the  dagger  that  justice  which  was 
denied  in  the  law  courts.  Lists  of  the  proscribed 
were  prepared.  Brisson,  the  first  President  of  the 
Parliament,  a  jurist  of  European  reputation,  and  two 
other  magistrates  of  high  position  and  character  were 
seized,  dragged  before  a  tumultuary  and  illegal 
tribunal,  and  hurriedly  executed.  But  the  mob  lis- 
tened with  apathy  to  the  wild  and  inflammatory 
harangues  of  preachers  and  demagogues.  So  unusual 
was  such  moderation  on  the  part  of  the  excitable  and 
violent  populace  of  Paris,  that  in  L'Estoile's  opinion 
it  could  only  be  ascribed  to  an  extraordinary  and 
singular  mercy  of  God. 

Not  only  the  Politicians,  but  all  Leaguers  who  had 
any  sense  of  humanity  and  justice,  called  upon  the 
Lieutenant-General  to  put  an  end  to  the  tyranny  of 
a  handful  of  murderers  and  fanatics. 

Mayenne  had  no  love  for  a  faction  which  was 
devoted  to  Spain  and  which  would  gladly  have 
assisted  the  young  Duke  of  Guise  to  supplant  him. 
He  hurried  to  Paris,  obtained  possession  of  the  Bas- 
tille, seized  and  executed    four  of  the  most   active 


1595]  The  King   Goes  to  Mass.  249 

members  of  the  Sixteen.  Others  not  less  guilty 
saved  themselves  by  flight.  An  oath  of  obedience 
to  the  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Union  and  to  the 
Parliament,  until  the  Estates  should  have  elected  an 
orthodox  King,  was  imposed  on  all. 

The  vigour  shown  on  this  occasion  by  Mayenne, 
gave  him  for  the  moment  an  appearance  of  strength, 
yet  it  was  but  the  appearance.  He  was  hated  by 
the  fanatics,  suspected  by  the  Spaniards,  neither 
liked  nor  trusted  by  the  Moderates  ;  he  was  supported 
only  by  a  few  personal  followers,  and  by  some  am- 
bitious nobles  who  hoped,  by  adhering  to  him,  to  sell 
themselves,  when  the  time  came,  at  a  higher  price  to 
the  King. 

All  this  had  happened  while  the  royal  forces  were 
gathering  round  Rouen  ;  and  since  then  the  desire 
for  peace  and  weariness  of  clerical  and  Spanish 
domination  had  been  growing.  In  the  autumn 
of  1592  the  Politicians  and  the  more  moderate 
Leaguers  made  the  scarcity  of  provisions  and  the 
cessation  of  all  trade  a  pretext  for  holding  meetings 
to  consider  how  the  war  might  be  ended  and  the 
sufferings  of  the  people  alleviated.  A  large  majority 
were  in  favour  of  "summoning"  the  King  of 
Navarre  to  abjure  his  heresy,  and  of  endeavouring 
in  the  meantime  to  conclude  some  form  of  truce 
which  would  allow  supplies  to  reach  the  capital. 

Mayenne  in  alarm  collected  what  troops  he  could, 
and  came  to  Paris,  where  the  Spaniards  assisted  him 
in  preventing  a  step  which  would  have  amounted 
to  an  engagement  to  recognise  Henry  as  soon  as  he 
should  "receive  instruction."    Hitherto  the  accepted 


250  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

doctrine  of  the  League  had  been,  that  as  a  relapsed 
heretic  he  had  forfeited  all  claim  to  the  throne, 
and  that  no  simulated  conversion,  nor  even  the 
papal  absolution  itself,  could  relieve  him  from  this 
disability. 

Mayenne  had  promised  to  the  Spaniards  that  the 
Estates  should  meet  and  settle  the  succession  in  the 
first  months  of  the  new  year  (1593).  Philip  II.  had 
determined,  if  possible,  to  secure  the  Crown  for  the 
Infanta  in  her  own  right,  or,  if  that  might  not  be,  as 
the  wife  of  a  prince,  to  be  chosen  by  him  and  elected 
by  the  representatives  of  the  nation.  To  obtain  this 
end  he  intended  that  the  Estates  should  meet  in  the 
presence  of  an  irresistible  Spanish  army. 

Parma  was  determined  that  if  the  thing  must  be 
done  it  should  not  be  done  by  halves.  If  he  must 
again  abandon  the  war  against  the  Dutch,  to  in- 
tervene in  France,  he  would  perform  his  task  so 
thoroughly  that  it  should  need  no  repetition. 

During  the  summer  he  had  been  recovering  from 
his  wound  and  nursing  his  constitutional  infirmities 
at  Spa.  In  the  late  autumn  he  ordered  his  Spanish 
and  Italian  veterans,  his  lansquenets  and  Walloon 
men-at-arms  to  assemble  at  Arras.  He  intended  to 
enter  Paris,  where  a  palace  was  being  prepared  for 
him,  at  the  head  of  an  irresistible  force,  and  to  im- 
pose his  master's  will  on  Mayenne  and  the  Estates, 
while  he  earned  the  gratitude  of  the  citizens  by 
driving  the  royal  garrisons  out  of  the  neighbouring 
towns.  This  venture,  at  any  rate,  little  as  he  ap- 
proved of  it,  would  not,  like  the  invasion  of  England, 
be  at  the  mercy  of  fickle  winds  and  waves. 


1595J 


The  King  Goes  to  Mass.  251 


But  fate  can  baffle  men  in  many  ways,  and  on 
December  3d,  Alexander  Farnese  lay  dead  at  Arras. 
His  army  dispersed  :  he  had  only  been  able  to  pay 
it  by  pledging  his  personal  credit ;  for  the  master  of 
Mexico  and  Peru  was  once  more  a  bankrupt. 

The  Duke  of  Feria,  with  a  few  troops  and  a  scanty 
supply  of  money,  was  left  to  attempt  a  task  which 
the  prestige  and  resources  of  Parma  might  hardly 
have  accomplished. 

The  death  of  the  great  Italian  was  welcome  news 
to  Mayenne.  Now  he  trusted  to  find  Philip  II.  less 
stiff.  Now  he  could  look  forward  with  less  appre- 
hension to  the  meeting  of  the  Estates.  Now  he  felt 
confident  that,  if  the  Spaniards  did  not  close  with 
the  terms  he  offered,  he  would  be  able  to  hold 
matters  in  suspense  till  he  compelled  the  King  to 
purchase  peace  at  a  price  which  would  entail  the 
division  of  France  into  provinces  ruled  by  hereditary 
governors,  as  independent  of  the  Crown  as  the 
great  feudatories  of  the  loth  and  i  ith  centuries. 

The  States-General  were  summoned  to  meet  in 
January  (1593).  The  partisans  of  Spain  and  the 
League  were  active  in  endeavouring  to  secure  the 
return  of  their  friends.  "  They  say,"  the  preachers 
exclaimed,  "the  Bearnese  will  go  to  Mass;  so  will  a 
dog.  Credulous  blockheads !  Don't  you  see  the 
old  wolf  is  only  foxing,  in  the  hope  of  eating  the 
sheep  ?  But  go  to  !  our  good  Politicians  love  this 
Ventre  St.  Gris.  He  is  a  spark  to  their  taste,  for  they 
are  swine  whose  bellies  he  has  promised  to  fill. 
Good  God  !  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  imagine  that  there 
should  be  any  peace  possible   with  a  bastard   such 


252  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592 

as  he  is,  a  heretic,  a  relapsed  miscreant,  a  devil !  " 
But  diatribes  such  as  this  excited  only  disgust,  except 
among  the  dregs  of  the  mob,  who  lived  on  the  doles 
of  the  convents  and  the  largess  of  the  Spaniards. 

On  January  26  (1593),  the  representatives  met  in 
the  hall  of  the  Louvre,  to  decide,  so  Mayenne  as- 
sured them,  the  weightiest  matter  ever  laid  before 
the  Council  of  the  nation.  At  this  first  session  there 
were  only  60  members  present  and  among  them 
no  representatives  of  the  nobility.  When,  after- 
wards, the  deputies  of  the  more  distant  towns  and 
provinces  had  arrived,  the  greatest  number  who 
ever  sat  was  only  128,  among  whom  there  were  but 
24  nobles.  The  lay  Estates  of  the  South-western 
and  Central  Provinces  did  not  send  a  single  repre- 
sentative. According  to  Villeroy,  those  who  came 
were  for  the  most  part  factious  and  needy  men, 
enemies  of  the  public  peace,  elected  for  the  express 
purpose  of  supporting  the  designs  of  the  Spaniards. 
Such  is  the  evidence  of  a  Leaguer ;  the  Royalist  De 
Serre  says  that  they  were  seditious  and  corrupt 
fellows  chosen  from  the  very  dregs  of  the  people. 
So  contemptible  in  numbers  and  composition  was 
the  Assembly  which  was  summoned  to  subvert  the 
fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom  and  to  disinherit 
the  rightful  heir  of  St.  Lewis.  Yet  a  majority  of 
the  representatives  of  Paris  belonged  to  the  moderate 
party  in  the  League,  nor  does  the  conduct  of  the 
Estates  generally  appear  to  merit  such  uncompro- 
mising condemnation.  They  showed  some  signs  of 
patriotism,  some  desire  of  peace,  some  wish  to 
escape  the  domination  of  Spain. 


15951  The  King   Goes  to  Mass.  253 

The  Clerical  and  Spanish  party  suffered  a  defeat 
on  the  first  question  decided  by  the  Estates.  May- 
enne  had  invited  the  Catholic  nobles  and  Princes  of 
the  King's  party  to  abandon  an  obstinate  heretic, 
and  to  join  the  representatives  of  the  people  in 
bestowing  the  crown  on  a  Catholic  king.  They  had 
replied  by  proposing  that  the  Estates  should  send 
envoys  to  a  conference  to  be  held  at  some  place  be- 
tween Paris  and  the  royal  lines.  These  proposals,  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Hispaniolised  fanatics, 
were  accepted  by  the  Estates.  The  chosen  envoys 
left  Paris  amid  loud  rejoicings  and  cries  of  "  Peace, 
peace— blessings  on  those  who  ask  for  and  obtain  it ; 
all  others  to  hell  and  damnation." 

But  before  the  arrangements  for  the  conferences 
at  Suresne,  between  the  royal  commissioners  and 
those  of  the  Estates,  had  been  completed,  Feria,  the 
plenipotentiary  of  Philip  II.,  had  entered  Paris  to 
make  known  the  will  of  his  master  and  what  he  was 
prepared  to  do  for  France  and  the  cause. 

Although  the  instructions  given  to  Feria  ad- 
mitted the  possibility  of  less  favourable  contingencies, 
Philip  II.,  misled  by  the  servile  protestations  of  the 
extreme  faction  of  the  League,  imagined  that  he 
could  obtain  France  on  his  own  terms.  The  Duke 
was  first  to  demand  from  the  Estates  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  Infanta  as  the  direct  heir  of  Henry  II.  ; 
if  the  Salic  superstition  could  not  be  overcome,  he 
was  next  to  suggest  that  they  should  elect  as  king 
the  Archduke  Ernest,  who  should  receive  the  hand 
of  his  cousin  with  the  throne.  If,  incredible  as  it 
seemed,    the    French  should  cling  not  less  to    the 


254  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

spirit  than  to  the  letter  of  the  Salic  law,  and  should 
refuse  a  foreign  king,  then  let  the  Crown  be  be- 
stowed on  the  Infanta  and  such  French  prince  as 
her  father  should  select  as  her  husband  within  two 
months.  Lastly,  if  the  Estates  should  prove  so  un- 
reasonable as  not  to  be  willing  to  leave  the  choice  of 
a  king  to  their  benefactor,  let  them  elect  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  and  Philip  would  condescend  to  accept 
him  as  son-in-law. 

The  last  was  the  only  really  possible  alternative. 
If,  from  the  first,  Feria  had  said,  "  Elect  Guise,  and 
my  master  will  marry  him  to  his  daughter  and  main- 
tain the  claim  of  the  new  King  with  his  men  and 
money,"  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  fervour  of  the 
Fanatics  and  Democrats,  of  the  clergy  and  of  the 
adherents  of  the  House  of  Lorraine,  would  have 
overborne  the  open  opposition  of  the  more  moder- 
ate, and  the  secret  ill-will  of  Mayenne.  The  elec- 
tion of  a  pretender  whose  hereditary  popularity  and 
personal  attractiveness  would  have  excited  some  en- 
thusiasm, and  in  whose  assistance  Philip  would  have 
strained  to  the  utmost  his  still  formidable  resources, 
would  certainly  have  revived  the  war,  and  post- 
poned, even  if  it  had  not  changed,  the  issue.  But, 
fortunately  for  France  and  Europe,  Feria  was  not 
the  man  to  go  beyond  his  instructions.  Wrapped 
in  the  dense  self-conceit  of  his  Castilian  pride,  and 
mistaking  an  ill-timed  dilatoriness  for  dignity,  he 
did  not  even  begin  to  negotiate  with  the  States- 
General,  until  Henry  IV.  had  communicated  to 
their  envoys  at  Suresne  his  determination  to  "re- 
ceive   instruction  "    within    the    next    two    months. 


15$5]  The  King  Goes  to  Mass.  255 

without  waiting  till  a  council  could  be  assembled, 
and  until  the  retreat  in  miserable  plight  of  the  4,000 
or  5,000  men  with  whom  the  Spaniards  assisted 
Mayenne  to  take  Noyon,  had  proved  how  little  was 
to  be  expected  from  their  arms. 

Two  months  elapsed  in  futile  discussions  before 
Feria  had  exhausted  the  previous  alternatives  and 
produced  Philip's  last  offer — to  honour  Guise,  if  he 
were  elected,  with  his  daughter's  hand.  Abundant 
signs  had  not  been  wanting  that  it  was  mere  waste 
of  time  to  attempt  to  secure  the  Crown  for  the  In- 
fanta on  other  terms.  When  the  Spaniards  claimed 
the  throne  for  her  in  her  own  right,  Rose,  Bishop  of 
Senlis,  one  of  the  most  rabid  Leaguers,  burst  forth 
into  a  violent  tirade.  He  saw  that  the  Politicians 
were  right  when  they  said  that  Spanish  zeal  was  all 
hypocrisy,  a  mere  cloak  for  worldly  ambition.  Nay, 
he  shouted,  such  pretensions  would  make  him  turn 
Politician  himself.  To  break  the  Salic  law  was  to 
ruin  the  kingdom. 

As  for  the  Parliament,  they  protested  that  it  was 
treasonable  even  to  debate  proposals  so  subversive 
of  the  fundamental  constitution  of  the  realm,  and 
proclaimed  null  and  void  any  treaty  for  the  election 
of  a  foreign  prince  or  princess  to  the  French  throne. 

Dreux  meantime  had  fallen,  and  the  last  remain- 
ing road  by  which  supplies  could  reach  Paris  was  in 
the  King's  hands.  It  was  certain  that  Henry  IV, 
meant  to  conform  ;  and,  if  he  did  so,  by  far  the 
larger  part  of  the  League  and  the  vast  bulk  of  the 
Catholic  population  in  Paris  and  in  the  other  great 
towns  would  be  anxious  to  end  the  war  by  submis- 


256  He7iry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

sion  to  his  authority.  Behn,  the  Governor  of  Paris, 
not  unmindful  perhaps  of  courtesies  at  Arques,  said 
that  if  Henry  went  to  Mass  he  and  the  other  nobles 
would  at  once  acknowledge  him  as  their  King.  It 
was  idle  for  the  papal  legate  to  declare  that  only  the 
Pope  could  absolve  a  relapsed  and  excommunicated 
heretic  ;  and  when  Mayennewith  an  air  of  compunc- 
tion said,  that  Christ  did  not  accept  lip  service  and 
must  be  worshipped  in  heart,  the  audience  laughed. 

The  King  had  invited  various  prelates  and  theo- 
logians to  meet  on  July  15th,  for  his  instruction. 
None  could  doubt  that  the  League  was  at  the  last 
gasp,  when  in  spite  of  spiritual  and  temporal  threats, 
four  of  the  parish  clergy  of  Paris  made  their  way  to 
St.  Denis,  and  among  them  one  of  the  most  furious 
of  the  preachers  who,  with  such  frantic  and  weari- 
some pertinacity,  had  beaten  to  arms  on  their  drum 
ecclesiastic. 

^^Henry,  as  it  will  be  remembered,  had  promised  at 
his  accession  to  "  receive  instruction  "  within  six 
months.  Four  years  had  now  elapsed  and  he  was 
still  listening  with  more  or  less  profit  to  the  sermons 
of  his  Calvinist  ministers.  "  The  same,"  wrote  Du 
Plessis-Mornay,  "  in  religion,  the  same,  alas,  that  I 
should  say  it,  in  his  pleasures.  I  rejoice  when  I  see 
that  he  is  not  ashamed  of  Christ's  gospel,  I  grieve 
when  I  see  the  shame  his  life  does  to  the  profession 
of  that  gospel." 

The  Catholics  had  looked  upon  the  promise  to  be 
instructed,  as  equivalent  to  an  engagement  to  con- 
form to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  Protes- 
tants had  hoped  that  the  King  would  preside  over  a 


1595]  The  King   Goes  to  Mass.  257 

council  in  which  both  religions  would  be  repre- 
sented, and  in  which  the  superiority  of  the  argu- 
ments of  their  divines  would  be  so  conspicuous 
that  Henry  might  fairly  refuse  to  abandon  a  faith 
the  truth  of  which  had  been  publicly  and  trium- 
phantly vindicated.  These  hopes  might  perhaps 
have  been  realised  had  the  King  been  able  to  take 
Rouen  and  to  crush  the  League  with  his  Protestant 
army.  He  would  then  have  been  strong  enough  to 
brave  the  discontent  of  his  Catholic  friends.  But 
now,  although  no  enemy  dared  to  meet  him  in  the 
field,  he  had  more  to  fear  from  those  in  his  own 
camp  than  from  his  declared  opponents.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  latter  openly  protested  that  nothing 
but  his  religion  prevented  them  from  acknowledging 
him  as  King ;  while  many  of  the  former  were  already 
plotting  against  him.  The  troubles  of  the  country 
would,  they  said,  be  ended  if  one  of  the  Catholic 
Bourbons  were  chosen  King.  An  orthodox  prince 
would  be  readily  accepted  by  the  League,  he  might 
satisfy  Spain  by  marrying  the  Infanta ;  Mayenne 
had  his  price,  and  such  was  the  exhaustion  and  suf- 
fering of  the  country  that  no  terms  by  which  quiet 
and  peace  were  restored  would  be  unwelcome  to 
the  people.  Even  those  who  were  more  loyal  were 
discontented.  They  could,  they  complained,  endure 
this  continual  warfare  no  longer.  They  were  weary 
of  serving  a  king  who  never  rested  day  or  night, 
who  was  accustomed  to  live  with  his  Huguenots  on 
the  wretched  plunder  of  peasants'  hovels,  to  warm 
himself  by  a  blazing  barn,  to  sleep  among  cattle  and 

horses  in  filthy  stables. 
17 


258  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

D'O,  weary  of  the  care  of  an  exchequer  so  empty 
that  even  his  skill  and  experience  could  find  noth- 
ing to  steal,  made  himself  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
discontent  of  the  old  courtiers  of  Henry  III.  "  Un- 
less the  King  could  make  up  his  mind  to  go  bravely 
to  Mass  he  must  expect  the  Catholics  to  mount 
their  horses  and  leave  him."  Wherever  he  turned, 
writes  a  fervent  Calvinist,  the  King  saw  cold  looks 
and  the  hearts  of  his  followers  alienated  from  him. 
Every  hour  he  was  warned  of  attempts  to  corrupt 
the  loyalty  of  the  governors  of  his  towns  and  castles. 
He  was  so  uncertain  whom  he  might  trust  that  he 
surrounded  himself  with  English  troops. 

On  all  sides  he  was  plied  with  the  same  argu- 
ments :  by  his  mistress,  who  imagined  that  the  Pope 
might  be  induced  to  grant  him  a  divorce,  and  who 
urged  the  tranquil  delights  they  might  enjoy  if  he 
were  released  from  his  perpetual  anxieties  and 
alarms;  by  the  envoys  of  the  Italian  princes,  who 
complained  that  they  were  in  a  false  position,  as  the 
friends  of  an  excommunicated  heretic,  but  that  all 
Italy,  weary  of  the  tyranny  of  Spain,  would  be  the 
ally  of  a  Catholic  king  of  France  ;  by  his  own  most 
trusted  advisers  ;  and  especially  by  the  Huguenot 
Sully,  who  pointed  out  the  many  advantages  the 
King  might  hope  to  gain  by  conforming  to  the 
church  of  the  majority  of  his  people  :  the  submission 
of  the  moderate  Leaguers  and  the  satisfaction  of  his 
Catholic  partisans,  the  rude  awakening  of  his  cousins 
from  their  ambitious  dreams,  his  own  safety  and 
ease,  the  termination  of  the  misery  and  sufferings  of 
the  country,  nay,  even  the  gain   to  the   Protestants 


1595]  The  King  Goes  to  Mass.  259 

themselves,  who  might  be  better  protected  by  a 
CathoHc  than  by  a  Huguenot  reigning  on  suffer- 
ance. He  even  went  so  far  as  to  maintain  that,  in 
his  opinion,  the  King  need  not  be  disturbed  by  any 
fear  lest  his  spiritual  welfare  should  suffer.  Since 
surely  "whoso  believes  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  dies 
obedient  to  the  Decalogue,  in  charity  with  his  neigh- 
bour, loving  God  with  all  his  heart,  and  trusting  in 
His  mercy  and  the  merits  of  Christ's  death,  cannot 
fail  to  be  saved,  whatever  the  sect  may  be  to  which 
he  belongs."  A  fine  sentiment  no  doubt,  and  true, 
but  which  does  not  meet  the  case  of  the  perjured 
profession  for  worldly  motives  of  a  creed  which  is 
not  believed. 

The  sophist  Du  Perron,  Sully's  friend,  who  had 
recently  obtained  the  bishopric  of  Evreux  and  one 
or  two  latitudinarian  ministers,  who,  it  was  sus- 
pected, had  been  not  inaccessible  to  bribes,  assisted 
in  stifling  the  King's  scruples. 

Yet  bolder  and  more  honest  advisers  were  not 
wanting.  Aubigne,  if  we  may  believe  his  own  testi- 
mony, assured  his  master,  that  matters  were  not  so 
bad  as  they  seemed  :  the  majority  of  Frenchmen 
were  so  weary  of  the  war  that  for  the  sake  of  peace 
they  would  gladly  acknowledge  him  whether  Catholic 
or  Huguenot.  If  the  Catholics  chose  a  king,  all 
the  disappointed  pretenders  would  turn  against 
him.  The  insolent  threats  of  the  late  King's  cour- 
tiers, the  plots  of  his  cousins,  were  idle  bugbears. 
But  even  if  the  worst  were  granted,  God  had  raised 
him  to  victory  and  power  from  far  lower  depths. 
His  chaplain    D'Amours  and    the    aged    Beza,  his 


26o  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

mother's  friend  and  spiritual  director,  to  whose  out- 
spoken admonitions  he  was  in  the  habit  of  listening 
with  much  good-natured  respect  and  little  profit, 
begged  him  to  beware  of  God's  judgment  if  he  be- 
came an  apostate  to  what  he  knew  to  be  the  truth. 
Surely  it  was  unworthy  of  a  brave  and  magnanimous 
Prince  to  be  driven  to  Mass  by  the  fear  of  man. 

But  Henry  had  made  up  his  mind,  and  that  not 
lightly  or  readily.  His  conversion  would  end  the 
struggle  in  which  the  country  was  perishing.  It 
would  give  him  the  repose,  for  which  even  his  rest- 
less nature  began  to  crave,  in  the  midst  of  constant 
campaigns  and  sieges,  cabals,  conspiracies  and  plots 
against  his  life.  It  would  really,  so  he  persuaded 
himself,  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  Huguenots  ;  the 
most  they  could  now  hope  for  was  toleration  and 
equal  rights  with  their  Catholic  countrymen.  As  a 
Protestant  King,  all  that  he  attempted  to  do  for  his 
fellow  believers  would  be  watched  with  the  greatest 
suspicion,  opposed  and  rendered  nugatory  by  law- 
courts  and  officials.  As  a  Catholic  he  would  have  a 
far  freer  hand.  He  afterwards  repeatedly  said  that 
like  St.  Paul  he  had  not  refused  to  be  anathema  for 
his  brethren. 

Du  Plessis-Mornay,  who  some  weeks  before  had 
believed  the  King,  when  he  assured  the  Huguenots 
at  Saumur  that  he  did  not  mean  to  abandon  the 
faith  in  which  he  had  been  bred,  was  now  convinced 
that  his  purpose  could  not  be  shaken.  Yet  he 
wrote,  "  I  will  trust  in  our  tears,  and  that  though 
he  forget  God,  God  may  not  forget  him  .  .  . 
only  I  fear  that  our  life,  which  we  ought  to  have 


1695]  I  he  King  Goes  to  Mass.  261 

changed  rather  than  our  religion,  may  lead  us  even 
to  worse."  Although  Mornay  had  a  taste  for  theo- 
logical discussions  he  refused  to  be  present  at  the 
King's  instruction.  He  was  certain  that  Henry 
would  not  be  moved  by  his  arguments,  and  with 
pardonable  self-complacency  believed  that  after  lis- 
tening to  them  he  would  more  than  ever  be  sinning 
against  light.  After  the  pervert  had  been  received 
into  the  Roman  Church,  Mornay  at  length  obeyed 
his  reiterated  prayers  and  commands  to  come  to  him  ; 
for  the  King  feared  that  in  their  first  dismay  and 
anger  at  his  apostasy  the  Protestants  might  take 
some  rash  step.  He  had  kept  the  Dukes  of  Bouillon 
and  Thouars,  whose  ambition  he  most  suspected, 
near  him,  and  he  wished  to  consult  Mornay,  to  con- 
vince him  that  he  did  not  intend  to  neglect  the  in- 
terests of  the  Huguenots,  and  to  use  his  great 
influence  to  pacify  their  discontent. 

As  soon  as  Mornay  reached  the  Court,  Henry 
called  him  into  his  cabinet,  and  attempted  to  justify 
his  conversion  in  a  private  conversation  which  lasted 
three  hours.  The  arguments  which  he  used  were 
probably  those  which  had  satisfied  his  own  con- 
science. The  position  of  his  affairs  had,  he  main- 
tained, giving  the  reasons  urged  by  Sully  and  others, 
left  him  no  choice.  In  his  heart  he  was  unchanged, 
yet  he  trusted  that  God  would  be  merciful  to  him, 
since  he  acted  for  the  good  of  his  people.  Also  he 
believed,  that  the  differences  between  the  two  re- 
ligions were  not  fundamental  and  had  been  exag- 
gerated by  the  animosity  of  the  preachers,  and  he 
trusted  to   be  able  to  compose  them.     Lastly,  he 


262  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

complained  that  the  Protestants  had  not  supported 
him  as  they  might  have  done;  Mornay  himself  had 
cared  less  for  him  than  for  the  interests  of  the  cause. 

It  was  no  doubt  painful  to  Henry  to  abandon  doc- 
trines which  he  held  to  be  true,  and  which  he  knew 
well  how  to  defend.  The  Catholic  theologians  said 
they  had  rarely  met  a  heretic  better  able  to  hold  his 
own  against  them  in  argument,  and  he  drily  com- 
plained, that  they  had  not  satisfied  him,  as  he  had 
hoped,  on  the  disputed  points. 

Before  rising  on  the  morning  when  he  was  admit- 
ted into  the  Catholic  Church,  he  spoke  long  with  his 
Calvinist  chaplain  La  Faye,  his  hand  resting  on  his 
neck,  and  kissed  him  two  or  three  times.  On  the 
day  before,  when  he  bade  his  ministers  farewell,  he 
asked  them  with  tears  to  pray  fervently  to  God  for 
him,  ever  to  love  him  as  he  would  love  them  ;  re- 
member them  and  never  permit  any  wrong  to  be 
done  to  them  or  violence  to  their  religion.  Long 
after,  when  he  thought  himself  dangerously  ill,  he 
was  tortured  by  the  fear  that,  in  abjuring  a  faith  in 
which  he  believed,  he  had  committed  that  sin  against 
the  Holy  Spirit,  of  which  there  is  no  remission. 

All  this  searching  of  the  heart  seems  strangely  at 
variance  with  the  saying  attributed  to  Henry — that 
"  Paris  was  well  worth  a  Mass."  Yet  he  may  have 
said  that  also.  He  passed  rapidly  from  tears  to 
laughter;  from  meeting-house  or  Mass  to  the 
chamber  of  his  mistress.  Since  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  abjure  his  heresies,  he  carried  out  his 
resolution  with  the  same  light-hearted  and  cheerful 
assurance  which  he   showed   in    battle,   though    he 


1595]  The  Kuig  Goes  to  Mass.  263 

often  shivered  and  turned  pale  while  putting  on  his 
armour.  "  I  begin  this  morning,"  he  wrote  to 
Gabrielle,  "  to  confer  with  the  Bishops  in  addition 
to  those  whom  I  mentioned  to  you  yesterday.  The 
hope  I  have  of  seeing  you  to-morrow  prevents  my 
writing  at  greater  length.  On  Sunday  I  shall  take 
the  perilous  leap.  At  this  moment,  while  I  am 
writing,  I  have  a  hundred  troublesome  bores  on  my 
hands,  who  will  make  me  hate  St.  Denis  as  much 
as  you  do  Mantes.  Good-bye,  sweetheart,  come  in 
good  time  to-morrow,  for  it  seems  to  me  a  year  since  I 
saw  you.  A  million  kisses  for  the  fair  hands  of  my 
angel  and  the  lips  of  my  dear  mistress," 

On  July  23d  the  King  "  received  instruction " 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Bourges  and  four  Bishops. 
They  wished  him  to  sign  a  detailed  confession  of 
faith  in  all  the  points  of  Romanist  doctrine  disputed 
by  the  Reformers.  This  he  altogether  refused.  He 
was  willing  to  live  and  die  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  but  he  would  not  sign  a  confession  contain- 
ing puerilities  (badincries)  which  he  was  certain  they 
did  not  themselves  believe. 

The  Bishops  gave  way,  and  a  formula  was  pre- 
pared in  which  the  King  simply  recognised  the 
Catholic,  Apostolic  and  Roman  Church  as  the  true 
Church  of  God,  promised  obedience  to  it  and  to  the 
Pope,  and  renounced  all  heresies  contrary  to  its 
doctrine. 

On  the  next  Sunday  (July  25th),  Henry,  accom- 
panied by  his  princes  and  nobles  and  by  the  great 
officers  of  the  Crown,  and  escorted  by  his  French, 
Swiss   and    Scotch  Guards,  passed  through  streets 


264  Henry  of  Navarre.  L1592- 

^  thronged  with  a  joyful  crowd  and  strewn  with 
~n(  flowers  to  the  old  church  of  St.  Denis,  of  which  the 
Kings  of  France  were  canons  during  their  life,  and 
in  which  they  rested  when  dead.  It  was  noticed 
that  not  a  few  of  the  thousands  who  rent  the  air 
with  their  cries  of  "  Vive  le  Roi  "  were  Parisians 
who  had  made  their  way  through  the  fortifications 
to  witness  an  event  which,  it  was  hoped,  would  end 
the  war.  The  church  doors  were  shut.  The  King 
knocked  ;  they  opened  and  disclosed  the  Archbishop 
of  Bourges  surrounded  by  seven  Bishops  and  a  crowd 
of  clergy.  "  Who  are  you  ?  "  asked  the  Archbishop. 
"  The  King."  "  What  do  you  seek  ?  "  "  To  be  received 
into  the  fold  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic  and  Roman 
Church  "  ;  as  he  spoke,  Henry  knelt  down  and  con- 
tinued, "  I  protest  and  swear  in  the  presence  of  God 
Almighty,  to  live  and  die  in  the  Catholic  faith,  to 
protect  and  defend  it  against  all  at  the  peril  of  my 
life  and  blood,  and  to  renounce  all  heresies,"  hand- 
ing at  the  same  time  his  signed  confession  of  faith 
to  the  Archbishop,  who  thereupon  gave  him  absolu- 
tion and  led  him  into  the  choir,  the  clergy  following. 
While  the  Te  Deum  pealed  forth  and  the  enthusi- 
astic multitude  shed  tears  of  joy,  the  King  was 
heard  in  confession  behind  the  High  Altar,  after 
which  High  Mass  was  celebrated,  Henry  devoutly 
casting  himself  on  his  knees  at  the  elevation  of  the 
Host. 

The  reiterated  cheers  of  the  populace,  blare  of 
trumpets,  salvos  of  artillery,  and,  as  the  night  closed, 
bonfires  in  all  the  neighbouring  villages,  announced 
to  Paris  that  the  "  most  Christian  King,"  the  "  eldest 


1595]  The  King  Goes  to  Mass.  265 

son  of  the  Church,"  had  been  welcomed  back,  a  re- 
pentant prodigal,  into  her  communion.  **It  is  a 
perilous  thing  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come," 
wrote  Elizabeth  of  England,  lamenting  the  apostasy 
of  her  ally.  If  this  be  true, — and  who  will  care  to 
deny  a  truth  which  cuts  away  the  root  of  that 
casuistry  which  is  fatal  to  public  and  private 
morality? — then  we  cannot  join  those  who  praise 
the  conversion  of  Henry  IV.  as  a  sacrifice  of  private 
feelings  to  public  welfare.  No  doubt  it  facilitated 
the  work  of  pacification  and  shortened  the  material 
sufferings  of  France,  but  at  the  price  of  setting  up 
before  the  nation  an  example  of  the  sacrifice  of 
honour  and  principle,  to  expediency.  The  King 
assured  the  friends,  whose  faith  he  formally  abjured, 
that  he  would  never  forget  them  ;  that  if  need  were 
he  was  ready  to  die  in  their  defence;  and  when  in 
his  coronation  oath  he  swore  to  drive  all  heresy 
from  his  dominions  he  had  fully  determined  to 
secure  toleration  and  equal  rights  to  his  heretical 
subjects.  This  the  Romanists  knew,  and  therefore 
his  abjuration  did  not  preserve  him  from  their  plots, 
nor  ultimately  from  the  assassin's  knife.  If  it  was 
necessary  that  the  King  of  France  should  be  a 
Romanist ;  if  the  connexion  between  Church  and 
State  was  so  intimate  that  all  heresy  was  politically 
dangerous,  then  Richelieu  who  deprived  the  Hugue- 
nots of  their  political  privileges,  and  Lewis  XIV.  who 
refused  toleration  to  their  doctrines,  were  better 
statesmen  than  Henry  IV.  The  dragonnades  of  his 
grandson  were  the  logical  consequences  of  the  con- 
version of  the  first  Bourbon  King. 


266  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

The  establishment  on  the  French  throne  of 
Henry  IV.  even  as  a  Roman  Catholic  was  no 
doubt  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  Protestant 
cause  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  Personal  enmity 
to  Spain,  ambition  and  patriotism  combined  to 
cause  Henry  IV.  to  pursue  as  a  Romanist  the  same 
policy  he  would  have  followed  as  a  Protestant.  But 
when  Spain  was  no  longer  formidable,  Lewis  XIV., 
the  ruler  and  the  idol  of  Catholic  France,  was  but 
acting  in  accordance  with  his  position,  when  he  in 
turn  became  the  champion  of  orthodoxy  and  of 
despotism,  the  scourge  of  liberty  and  of  Protes- 
tantism. 

The  news  of  the  King's  conversion  was  received 
by  all  among  the  Leaguers  who  desired  the  preser- 
vation of  the  kingdom  and  of  the  Faith  with  as  much 
joy,  says  Villeroy,  as  if  they  had  been  restored  from 
death  to  life. 

The  fury  of  the  Zealots,  on  the  other  hand,  knew 
no  bounds  and  became  even  more  extravagant  in 
expression.  Not  the  Pope,  not  even  God,  said  the 
preachers,  could  absolve  a  relapsed  heretic.  Where 
was  the  Balthasar  Gerard,  the  Jacques  Clement,  who 
would  rid  the  world  of  this  monster?  But  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  fanatics,  the  Leaguers  listened 
with  growing  distaste  and  weariness  to  sermons 
sometimes  three  hours  long,  filled  with  abuse  and 
scurrility.  The  more  moderate  among  the  clergy 
began  to  preach  reconciliation  and  the  Divine  right 
of  Kings. 

The  controversy  was  waged  even  more  vigorously 
in   the  pamphlets  and    broadsheets  which    poured 


1595]  The  King  Goes  to  Mass.  267 

from  the  press,  than  in  the  pulpit,  and  here  also  the 
Royalists  had  the  better  of  their  opponents  in  wit  as 
well  as  in  moderation  and  good  taste. 

But  the  Spanish  party  had  other  weapons  besides 
those  of  argument  and  of  honourable  warfare.  In 
spite  of  many  previous  failures  it  was  hoped  that 
the  assassin's  dagger  might  eventually  deliver  the 
Church  from  her  enemy.  The  Rector  of  the  Jesuits 
and  one  of  the  parish  priests  of  Paris  encouraged  a 
young  man,  not  unwilling  to  lay  down  for  the  faith- 
ful, a  life,  which  disappointed  love  had  rendered 
worthless  to  himself,  to  join  the  royal  camp,  and 
to  watch  for  an  opportunity  of  assassinating  the 
King.  Fortunately  an  Italian  Dominican,  to  whom 
the  plot  had  become  known,  sent  a  warning.  Bar- 
riere,  so  the  youth  was  called,  was  arrested  and 
broken  on  the  wheel. 

A  week  after  the  King's  conversion,  a  truce  had 
been  concluded  for  three  months  with  the  Leaguers. 
Henry  had  consented  to  treat  with  Mayenne  as  with 
an  equal,  for  he  believed  that  when  the  country  had 
once  tasted  peace  it  would  not  permit  itself  to  be 
dragged  back  again  into  war ;  especially  if,  as  he 
hoped,  he  in  the  meantime  obtained  absolution  from 
the  Pope.  Clement  VIII.  had  hitherto  refused  to  re- 
ceive his  envoys,  but  he  was  now  no  longer  a  heretic. 
The  Pope  before  his  election  had  not  been  a  par- 
tisan of  Spain,  and  the  Duke  of  Tuscany  and  other 
Italian  princes  promised  to  exert  their  influence  at 
the  Vatican  to  the  utmost  on  behalf  of  the  King  of 
France.  Mayenne  also  told  Villeroy  to  assure 
Henry  that  he  desired  peace,  that  he  was  disgusted 


)( 


^ 


268  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

with  the  Spaniards  and  that  he  also  would  do  his 
best  to  persuade  the  Pope  to  grant  the  absolution. 

The  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Union  had  assented 
to  the  armistice  because  he  had  no  choice.  The 
mob  threatened  to  throw  the  priests,  whom  they 
regarded  as  the  main  obstacles  to  peace,  into  the 
river ;  they  turned  their  backs  on  the  legate  when 
he  gave  them  his  benediction  and  insulted  Feria, 
The  Spaniards  indeed  made  large  offers,  to  Mayenne, 
of  little  less  than  the  partition  of  the  kingdom. 
But  to  carry  on  the  war,  money  and  men  were 
needed  and  not  promises,  which,  moreover,  the  Duke 
did  not  believe  to  be  sincere,  for  he  knew  that  the 
Sorbonne  had  advised  that  everything  should  be 
promised  to  him  and  nothing  given.  Meantime, 
with  characteristic  double  dealing  he  sent  a  secret 
envoy  to  Rome  to  urge  the  Pope  on  no  account  to 
absolve  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  his  son-in-law  to 
Madrid  to  persuade  Philip  II.  to  promise  the  hand 
of  the  Infanta  to  his  eldest  son. 

The  truce  was  prolonged  till  the  end  of  the  year. 
When  it  expired,  all  in  arms  against  the  King  were 
to  expect  the  punishment  of  rebels  unless  they 
submitted  within  a  month. 

The  hope  that  the  Pope  would  readily  grant  the 
absolution  had  not  been  realised.  Clement  VIII. 
scarcely  deigned  to  receive  the  letter  which  Henry 
IV.  wrote  to  announce  his  conversion.  He  would 
not  listen  to  the  Duke  of  Nevers  who  was  sent  as 
ambassador.  "  Don't  tell  me,"  he  exclaimed,  "that 
your  King  is  Catholic.  I  could  never  believe  him 
to  be  converted  unless  an  angel  from  heaven  came 


1595]  The  Kifig   Goes  to  Mass.  269 

to  whisper  it  in  my  ear.  As  for  the  Cathohcs  who 
have  adhered  to  him,  I  do  not  say  that  they  are 
rebels  and  renegades  to  their  religion,  but  they  are 
only  the  bastard  children  of  the  maidservant,  while 
they  of  the  League  are  the  true  lawful  children — 
buttresses  and  pillars  of  the  Catholic  Church."  The 
Duke  left  Rome  without  having  effected  anything, 
or  obtained  any  more  comfortable  assurance  than  a 
whisper  from  Cardinal  Toleto,  the  chief  adviser  of  \ 
the  Pope,  a  moderate  man,  though  a  Spaniard  and 
a  Jesuit,  that  the  Holy  Father  only  wished  to  prove 
the  King  of  Navarre's  sincerity. 

A  pretext  therefore  still  remained  for  those  who, 
like  Mayenne,  wished  to  hold  out  on  a  scruple  of 
conscience  till  they  could  obtain  better  terms. 

In  other  respects  the  results  of  the  truce  were 
very  much  what  the  Royalists  expected.  The 
Estates  like  a  burnt-out  candle  had  dwindled  and 
gone  out  in  such  obscurity  that  it  is  impossible  to 
determine  the  date  of  their  final  meeting.  The  last 
ill-smelling  flicker  which  attracted  attention  was 
the  recognition  by  them  of  the  decrees  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent — a  measure  forced  on  their  weariness 
and  weakness  by  Mayenne,  in  order  that  reconcilia- 
tion might  be  made  more  difificult,  since  it  was  quite 
incompatible  with  the  privileges  of  the  Galilean 
Church,  and  with  the  principles  of  national  indepen- 
dence stoutly  upheld  by  the  law-courts. 

The  impossibility  of  any  tolerable  arrangement 
with  Spain,  the  duplicity  and  selfishness  of  May- 
enne were  more  than  ever  patent ;  and  many  sepa- 
rate negotiations  had  been  opened  with  the  towns 


270  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

and  nobles  of  the  League,  the  effect  of  which  was 
seen  as  soon  as  they  had  to  choose  between  making 
their  peace  with  the  King  and  the  renewal  of 
hostiHties. 

Vitry,  Governor  of  Meaux,  one  of  the  most  able 
and  active  of  the  Catholic  captains,  had  been  the 
first  of  the  officers  of  Henry  III.  to  leave  his  suc- 
cessor, because  he  would  not  serve  a  heretic.  That 
he  had  no  personal  animosity  to  the  King  he  had 
shown  by  consenting,  while  still  in  arms  against 
him,  to  hunt  the  royal  hounds  during  an  illness  of 
the  huntsman.  He  now  told  the  citizens  of  Meaux 
that  as  his  Majesty  was  no  longer  a  heretic  he  meant 
to  return  to  his  service,  and  the  townspeople  deter- 
mined to  follow  the  example  of  their  Governor. 

Le  Chastre,  Governor  of  the  Orleanais  and  Berry, 
the  uncle  of  Vitry,  acted  in  like  manner  and  the 
municipalities  of  Orleans  and  Bourges  united  with 
him  in  making  their  peace  with  the  King.  The 
citizens  of  Lyons  had  ended  a  long  feud  with  their 
Governor,  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  by  seizing  and 
imprisoning  him  in  their  citadel,  and  now  in  spite 
of  their  Archbishop  Espinac  admitted  a  Royalist 
garrison.  The  submission  of  this  great  and  turbu- 
lent town,  the  commercial  centre  of  France,  was  a 
great  gain  to  the  Royalists,  and  was  likely  to  deter- 
mine the  hesitation  of  Villars,  the  Governor  of 
Rouen,  with  whom  Sully  was  already  negotiating. 
The  terms  granted  to  the  towns  which  submitted 
were  generally  the  same.  A  complete  amnesty  for 
the  past  ;  the  confirmation  of  all  the  municipal 
privileges  and  franchises  they  already  possessed ;  an 


1595J  The  Khig   Goes  to  Mass.  271 

engagement  to  build  no  citadel  or  to  destroy  those 
which  already  existed  ;  exemption  from  extraordi- 
nary taxation,  together  with  large  pensions  and 
gifts  of  money  to  their  Governors.  No  doubt  it 
was  better  and  even  cheaper  for  the  nation  that  the 
gates  of  the  hostile  cities  should  be  opened  by 
gold,  that  the  King  should  buy  back  his  kingdom, 
than  that  the  country  should  be  devastated,  agricul- 
ture, manufactures  and  trade,  the  sources  of  all 
wealth,  ruined  by  civil  war.  Yet,  by  purchasing 
the  submission  of  his  rebels  Henry  IV.  taught  the 
French  nobility  to  believe  that  turbulence  was  prof- 
itable, a  lesson  not  forgotten  during  the  regencies 
of  Mary  de'  Medici  and  Anne  of  Austria.  Nor  did 
it  appear  just  that  loyal  subjects  should  bear  a 
heavier  load  of  taxation  in  order  that  the  rebel  towns 
and  provinces  might  escape  from  the  obligation  of 
contributing  to  the  necessities  of  the  State.  The 
King's  most  faithful  servants  had  some  reason  to 
complain  when  they  saw  not  only  their  services  un- 
rewarded, but  the  sums  lent  to  their  master  unpaid, 
while  wealth  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice  was  lav- 
ished on  his  enemies.  "  It  is,  I  suppose,  because  I 
am  necessary,  that  the  King  keeps  me  necessitous," 
wrote  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  who  had  never  grudged 
his  money  to  the  Cause ;  and  the  large  sums  which 
La  Noue  had  raised  by  mortgaging  his  estates  were 
never  repaid  to  his  heirs.  It  is  true  that  the  King 
himself  felt  the  pinch  of  want.  He  had  not  in  the 
winter  of  1594  wherewithal  to  buy  fodder  for  his 
horses.  "  My  plight,"  he  complained  to  the  treas- 
urer D'O,  "  is  indeed  wretched ;  I  shall  soon  have 


\ 


272  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

to  go  on  foot  and  naked."  Turning  to  one  of  his 
attendants  he  asked  how  many  shirts  he  had — 
"A  dozen,  Sire,  and  some  of  them  torn." — "And 
how  many  handkerchiefs  ?  Eight,  is  n't  it  ?  "^ — "No, 
Sire,  only  five."  D'O,  in  excuse,  said  that  to  sup- 
ply these  wants  he  had  ordered  6,000  crowns'  worth 
of  linen  from  Flanders.  "  Well,"  answered  Henry, 
"  it  seems  I  am  like  those  scholars  who,  when  they 
are  dying  of  cold,  talk  of  the  furred  robes  they  have 
at  home."  Yet  this  destitution  did  not  prevent  him 
from  giving  to  his  mistress  a  service  of  plate  and  a 
diamond  heart,  "  very  appropriate  for  her  if  angels 
wear  jewellery."  It  is  seldom  that  a  dissolute  and 
ragged  pauper  whose  children  are  starving  is  with- 
out a  shilling  for  drink  and  tobacco. 

Few  could  any  longer  affect  to  doubt  that  there 
was  again  a  ruler  in  France,  and  two  great  events 
which  took  place  during  the  first  months  of  1594 
made  it  plain  to  all  that  there  remained  no  colour- 
able pretext  for  refusing  to  him  the  title  of  King. 
These  events  were  his  coronation  and  the  submis- 
sion of  Paris. 

The  monarchy  of  the  Franks  had  been  elective 
like  that  of  the  other  Teutonic  nations.  The  Mero- 
vingian kings  attempted  to  assert  an  unconditional 
hereditary  right ;  but  the  Church  which  had  assisted 
them  to  establish  their  authority,  while  she  hedged 
round  their  Crown  with  a  mystic  and  almost  divine 
dignity,  claimed  the  right  of  bestowing  that  dignity 
by  a  ceremony  analogous  to  that  which  raised  the 
priest  above  his  fellow-men.  Under  the  Carolin- 
gians  the  elective  principle  was  reaffirmed,  and  the 


1595]  The  King  Goes  to  Mass.  273 

nobles  and  prelates,  who  passing  over  the  lineage  of 
Charles  the  Great  chose  Hugh  Capet  as  their  king 
(987),  doubtless  intended  to  establish  an  elective 
monarchy  no  longer  confined  to  the  members  of  one 
family.  For  the  next  two  hundred  years  the  reign- 
ing monarch  never  omitted  to  procure  during  his 
lifetime  the  election  and  coronation  of  his  eldest 
son.  It  was  mainly  owing  to  the  fortunate  chance, 
that  till  the  death  of  Lewis  X.  (13 1.6)  a  direct  male 
heir  never  failed  the  house  of  Capet,  that  the  de- 
scent of  the  Crown  to  the  nearest  male  heir  of  the 
deceased  King  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

The  presence  of  the  peers  of  France  at  the  King's 
coronation  became  an  antiquarian  pageant,  which 
reminded  only  the  most  thoughtful  spectators  that 
the  royal  power  had  once  been  based  on  a  compact 
between  an  elected  ruler  and  his  people. 

On  the  other  hand  the  religious  and  mystic  im- 
portance attached  to  the  coronation  ceremony  had, 
if  anything,  increased.  To  lead  her  Prince  to  Rheims, 
that  he  might  receive  the  sacred  unction,  was  the 
final  aim  and  crown  of  Joan  of  Arc's  ambition  ;  till 
after  that  ceremony  he  was  to  her  only  the  Dauphin, 
nor  does  Froissart  give  him  till  then  the  style  of 
King. 

One  of  the  arguments  used  to  determine  the  con- 
version of  Henry  IV.  had  been  the  question,  how, 
while   he  remained  a  heretic,  could  he  be  crowned  ? 

This  difficulty  no  longer  existed.     Rheims  with 

its  cathedral  and  mystic  oil  was  still  in  the  power  of 

the  League.     But  there  were  precedents  for  the  per- 
18 


2  74  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

formance  of  the  rite  elsewhere.  The  coronation  of 
Lewis  VI.  had  taken  place  at  Orleans  and  Henry 
determined  to  be  crowned  at  Chartres,  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  which  his  ancestors  had  been  patrons  and 
benefactors.  For  once  the  tendency  of  relics  to 
exist  in  duplicate  was  found  useful.  If  the  oil, 
brought  to  St.  Remigius  by  an  angel  for  the  unction 
of  Clovis,  was  not  forthcoming,  another  scarcely  less 
revered  fluid  of  miraculous  virtue  was  contained  in 
a  precious  phial  given  by  another  angel  to  St.  Mar- 
tin, the  apostle  of  Gaul.  This  was  preserved  in  the 
convent  of  Marmoustier,  near  Tours,  where  it  had 
by  special  mercy  escaped  a  wholesale  destruction  of 
relics  in  1562. 

Everything  was  done  to  make  the  ceremony  im- 
pressive. Henry  of  Bourbon  claimed  the  throne  as 
the  representative  of  hereditary  right,  he  had  been 
opposed  on  the  ground  that  sovereignty  was  con- 
ferred by  the  people,  and  that  to  exercise  it  was  an 
ofifice  so  sacred,  so  nearly  a  priesthood  that  it  could 
not  be  held  by  a  heretic  excommunicated  and  un- 
absolved. Yet  all  the  ancient  forms  were  now  care- 
fully observed,  forms  from  which,  if  all  the  annals 
of  the  French  monarchy  had  perished,  an  historical 
student  could  have  concluded  with  more  certainty 
that  it  was  originally  elective  and  endowed  with 
mystic  sanctity  by  close  connection  with  the  Church, 
than  the  physiologist  is  able,  from  the  presence  of 
organs  now  useless  and  atrophied,  to  conjecture 
what  were  the  conditions  under  which  an  animal 
has  previously  existed. 

The  greatest  nobles  present  with  the  King,  dressed 


1595]  The  King   Goes  to  Mass.  275 

in  magnificent  and  archaic  robes,  figured  as  the  six 
great  vassals,  the  lay  peers  of  the  French  Crown,  the 
Dukes  of  Normandy,  Burgundy  and  Aquitaine,  the 
Counts  of  Flanders,  Toulouse  and  Champagne. 
Five  Bishops  represented  the  spiritual  peers,  the 
Bishops  of  Laon,  Langres,  Beauvais,  Chalons  and 
Noyon,  who  were  either  absent  or  dead.  These 
peers  raised  Henry  from  his  seat  under  the  High 
Altar  and  presented  him  to  the  crowd,  while  the 
Bishop  of  Nantes,  acting  for  the  Duke-Bishop  of 
Laon,  asked  whether  they  accepted  him  as  their 
king?  Then  having  been  acknowledged  by  all  the 
orders  as  their  sovereign  lord,  he  was  clad  in  the  royal 
robes,  emblematic,  as  it  was  supposed,  of  the  sanc- 
tity of  Holy  Orders,  the  tunic  of  the  subdiaconate, 
the  dalmatic  of  the  diaconate,  while  the  royal  mantle 
represented  the  chasuble  of  the  priesthood,  girt  with 
the  sword,  the  rod  of  justice  placed  in  his  hands,  and 
anointed  in  seven  places  with  the  miraculous  chrism. 
After  which  he  swore,  his  hand  upon  the  Gospels 
which  he  reverently  kissed,  to  protect  the  peace  of 
the  Church  and  of  all  Christian  people  ;  to  put  down 
iniquity  and  violence  ;  to  deserve  God's  mercy  by 
enforcing  justice,  and  lastly,  to  drive  from  his  do- 
minions (exterminate)  all  heretics.  Then,  and  not 
till  then,  did  the  oflficiating  Bishop  take  the  royal 
Crown  from  the  High  Altar,  and  the  peers  each 
touching  it  with  their  hands,  place  it  on  his  head. 
Next  they  led  him  to  a  throne  raised  aloft  on  a  stage, 
where  they  did  homage  to  him  in  the  sight  of  the 
crowd  who  thronged  the  vast  nave  of  the  stately 
Cathedral, — a    crowd    of    nobles,    magistrates    and 


276  Henry  of  Navai're.  [1592- 

soldiers  scarcely  less  bright  than  those  marvellous 
windows  above  them  which  the  art  of  the  middle 
ages  has  filled  with  translucent  gems.  The  loud  and 
reiterated  shouts  of  joy  spreading  from  the  interior 
of  the  church  to  the  populace  collected  outside 
drowned  the  blast  of  the  trumpets  and  the  procla- 
mation of  the  heralds  scattering  largess. 

The  crowned  and  anointed  King  returned  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Paris  to  conduct  in  person  the 
negotiations  which  were  to  place  him  in  possession  of 
his  Capital,  while  Sully  continued  to  bargain  with 
Villars,  the  Governor  of  Rouen  ;  and  to  endeavour  to 
beat  down  terms,  the  extravagance  of  which  was  a 
vexation  to  his  economic  soul :  perhaps  also  he  com- 
pared the  price  demanded  by  Villars  for  ceasing  to 
be  a  rebel,  1,200,000  livres,  equivalent  to  nearly  ;!^500,- 
000,  a  pension  of  60,000,  equivalent  to  nearly  ^^24,- 
000  and  the  revenues  of  six  abbeys  with  the  hardly 
earned  rewards  of  many  years  of  loyal  service. 

The  higgling  and  hesitation  of  his  agent  excited 
the  King's  impatience.  "  It  is  folly,"  he  wrote, 
(March,  1594)  "  to  raise  so  many  difficulties  in  a  mat- 
ter the  conclusion  of  which  is  so  important  for  the 
establishment  of  my  authority  and  for  the  relief  of 
my  people.  Do  you  not  remember  how  often  you 
have  quoted  the  advice  of  a  certain  Duke  of  Milan 
(Francis  Sforza)  to  Lewis  XI.  ?  To  separate  by  their 
private  interests  those  who  had  leagued  themselves 
against  him  under  the  pretext  of  the  public  weal. 
This  is  what  I  intend  to  attempt.  I  prefer,  even 
though  it  should  cost  twice  as  much,  to  treat  with 
each  severally,  rather  than  to  attain  the  same  end  by 


15951  The  King  Enters  Paris.  277 

means  of  a  general  treaty  with  a  single  leader,  who 
would  thus  be  able  to  keep  together  a  faction  in  my 
realm." 

Thus  urged,  Rosny  accepted  Villars'  terms,  and 
Henry  IV.  was  undisputed  master  of  Normandy.  On 
March  17th  Sully  received  a  letter  from  the  King 
bidding  him  join  him  before  the  21st  in  order  that 
he  might  help  to  cry  "  Vive  le  Roi  "  in  Paris. 

Ever  since  the  conversion  of  Henry,  the  Politi- 
cians and  the  more  moderate  and  patriotic  members 
of  the  League  would  gladly  have  thrown  open  the 
gates  of  Paris  to  a  Catholic  and  national  king. 
Mayenne  on  the  other  hand  had  drawn  closer  to  the 
Spaniards,  both  because  he  felt  their  support  to  be 
more  necessary  to  him  and  because  they  encouraged 
him  to  hope  that  Philip  might  marry  the  Infanta  to 
his  son. 

The  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Union  felt  the 
ground  trembling  under  his  feet.  He  strengthened 
the  garrison,  re-established  the  Council  of  Sixteen, 
the  committee  of  public  safety  of  the  League,  per- 
fected the  organisation  of  the  "  minotiers," — a  militia 
recruited  by  Spanish  money  from  the  lowest  classes 
to  overawe  the  more  respectable  citizens,  and  ban- 
ished some  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  Moderate 
party.  Since  Belin,  the  Governor  of  Paris,  had  not 
scrupled  to  say  that  he  was  French  and  not  Spanish 
and  that  the  time  was  come  to  end  the  Civil  War,  he 
was  dismissed  and  his  place  given  to  Brissac,  the  hero 
of  the  Barricades,  a  favourite  of  the  democratic  fac- 
tion. The  study  of  antiquity  had  converted  Brissac 
to  Republicanism  in  theory,  but  his  actions  were 


278  Henry  of  Navarre,  [1592- 

solely  determined  by  the  intelligent  pursuit  of  his 
own  interests.  He  was  not,  therefore,  likely  to  be 
scrupulous  in  fidelity  to  a  losing  cause  ;  yet  Mayenne, 
who  never  allowed  his  own  conduct  to  be  hampered 
by  the  most  solemn  engagements,  trusted  Brissac's 
word,  showing  that  strange  infatuation  which  not 
unfrequently  exposes  a  swindler  to  be  cheated  more 
easily  than  an  honest  man.  Feria  was  convinced 
that  a  man  could  not  be  dangerous,  who,  instead  of 
listening  to  what  passed  in  Council,  amused  himself 
by  catching  the  flies  on  the  wall ;  and  the  legate  felt 
that  confidence  was  not  misplaced  in  a  Catholic  so 
scrupulous,  that  he  cast  himself  on  his  knees  to  crave 
absolution  after  an  interview  with  his  brother-in- 
law,  the  Royalist  St.  Luc, — an  interview  which, 
Brissac  asserted,  was  rendered  necessary  by  a  law- 
suit, in  which  his  whole  fortune  was  at  stake,  but 
which  really  was  to  settle  the  price  of  his  desertion. 

During  the  next  six  weeks  (January  and  Febru- 
ary, 1594),  each  day  brought  the  news  of  further 
disaster  to  the  cause  of  the  League ;  of  fortresses 
and  towns  returning  to  their  allegiance.  At  length 
the  Spaniards  sent  some  troops  to  the  frontier  and 
on  March  6th,  Mayenne  left  Paris  with  the  avowed  in- 
tention of  attempting  with  their  help  to  open  a  way 
by  which  supplies  might  reach  the  Capital.  But  since 
he  took  his  wife  and  children  with  him,  his  departure 
appeared  little  less  than  a  retreat  from  an  untenable 
position,  and  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  negotia- 
tions carried  on  by  the  King's  friends  within  and 
without  the  walls. 

Brissac  was  not  more  faithful  to  the  League  than 


1596]  The  King  Enters  Paris.  279 

his  predecessor,  while  his  dissimulation  and  the  trust 
reposed  in  him  made  him  far  more  dangerous.  The 
price  he  exacted  from  the  King  for  his  services  was 
a  high  one,  20,000  crowns  down,  and  a  pension  of 
20,000,  the  confirmation  of  the  dignity  of  Marshal 
bestowed  on  him  by  Mayenne,  and  the  governorship 
of  Corbeil  and  Mantes.  The  Parisian  magistrates, 
who  joined  in  the  plot  for  opening  the  gates  of  the 
city  to  the  King,  deserve  the  praise  of  disinterested- 
ness in  comparison  with  the  Catholic  nobles.  But 
few  stipulated  for  private  favours.  The  conditions 
upon  which  they  insisted  were  such  as  they  sup- 
posed to  be  for  the  public  good.  The  maintenance 
of  the  privileges  of  Paris ;  the  prohibition  of  Prot- 
estant worship  within  ten  leagues  of  the  walls ;  a 
general  amnesty  and  permission  to  the  foreigners  in 
the  town  to  depart  uninjured.  Since  they  had  been 
invited  and  received  as  friends  it  would  have  been  a 
treacherous  breach  of  hospitality  to  have  delivered 
the  Spaniards  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies. 

After  the  term.s  had  been  agreed  upon,  daybreak 
on  the  morning  of  March  22d  was  fixed  upon  as  the 
time  when  the  King  and  his  troops  should  be  ad- 
mitted. A  large  force  could  not  assemble  near  the 
gates  without  attracting  the  attention  of  the  Span- 
iards and  of  the  Sixteen  whose  suspicions  were  al- 
ready aroused.  Henry  IV.  was  obliged  to  venture 
into  the  narrow  and  tortuous  streets  of  the  populous 
city  with  some  4,000  or  5,000  men.  The  Spaniards 
with  their  armed  and  disciplined  adherents  were  at 
least  three  times  as  numerous.  The  safety  and 
success  of  the  King  depended  therefore,  in  the  first 


28o  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

place,  on  the  good  faith  and  skilful  arrangements  of 
his  friends  within  the  walls,  and  in  the  next,  on  the 
sympathy,  if  not  on  the  active  co-operation,  of  the 
citizens. 

The  plan  of  the  Royalists  was  well  conceived  and 
punctually  executed.  Never,  perhaps,  has  a  large 
and  unruly  city,  held  by  a  powerful  garrison,  changed 
hands  with  so  little  disorder  or  bloodshed. 

Brissac  on  various  pretexts  got  rid  of  two  French 
regiments  whom  he  knew  to  be  devoted  to  May- 
enne,  and  persuaded  the  most  energetic  of  the 
Spanish  commanders  to  leave  the  town,  in  the  hopes 
of  intercepting  an  imaginary  convoy.  At  the  same 
time  he  enrolled  as  new  recruits  a  number  of  Roy- 
alist soldiers  who  slipped  one  by  one  into  the  city. 

Feria  and  Ibarra  were  warned  that  the  King  would 
enter  Paris  on  the  night  of  the  2ist ;  but  their  in- 
formant assured  them  that  midnight  was  the  ap- 
pointed hour  and  appears  only  to  have  suggested 
a  possible  complicity  on  the  part  of  the  Governor. 
Feria  accordingly,  shortly  before  midnight,  warned 
Brissac  to  be  on  his  guard,  and  sent  his  Spanish  cap- 
tains to  visit  the  gates  in  his  company.  They  were 
ordered  to  stab  him  at  the  first  sign  of  hesitation  or 
treachery.  Brissac  hurried  them  from  post  to  post 
till  they  were  tired  out,  and  brought  them  back  to 
Feria,  well  satisfied  of  his  zeal  and  fidelity.  Mean- 
while all  the  trainbands,  whom  the  Royalists  could 
trust,  had  been  quietly  got  underarms.  They  were 
told  that  peace  had  been  concluded  between  May- 
enne  and  the  King,  that  it  would  be  proclaimed  on 
the  morrow,    but    that   it  was  necessary  to  antici- 


1595]  The  King  Enters  Paris.  281 

pate  and  prevent  the  resistance  of  the  Spaniards  and 
their  adherents. 

Brissac  and  the  Provost  of  Paris,  L'HuilHer,  ac- 
companied by  a  strong  body  of  citizens,  seized  the 
Porte  Neuve — the  gate  on  the  bank  of  the  river  by 
the  Louvre.  The  gates  of  St.  Denis  and  St.  Honore 
were  held  by  other  magistrates  privy  to  the  plot, 
and  the  commandant  of  the  Arsenal  allowed  the 
chain  to  be  lowered  which  barred  the  river,  so  as  to 
admit  by  water  the  garrisons  of  Corbeil  and  Melun. 
The  Royalist  troops  entered  the  town  from  four 
sides,  and  then  uniting  with  their  friends,  who  had 
collected  to  hold  and  open  the  gates,  occupied  the 
great  arteries  which  divided  the  labyrinth  of  narrow 
and  crooked  lanes, — the  streets  of  St.  Denis,  St. 
Honore  and  St.  Martin.  Then  converging  they 
marched  upon  the  centre  of  the  city  where  their 
friends  were  astir,  and  where  they  met  with  no  resist- 
ance. When  the  Spaniards  took  the  alarm  they 
found  themselves  surrounded  in  their  several  quarters 
and  deprived  of  any  possibility  of  concerted  action. 

With  the  last  of  four  bodies  of  troops  which  en- 
tered the  Capital  by  the  Porte  Neuve  came  Henry 
himself.  The  Provost  and  Governor  were  waiting 
to  welcome  him  at  that  same  gate  through  which 
six  years  before  the  last  Valois  had  fled,  pursued  by 
the  execrations  of  his  people. 

The  King  received  the  keys  of  the  town  from 
the  Provost,  and  embraced  Brissac,  saluting  him  by 
the  title  of  Marshal,  while  he  threw  his  own  white 
scarf  over  his  neck.  The  division  which  had 
entered  immediately   before  the   King,   alone   met 


282  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

with  any  resistance.  As  it  moved  along  the  quays 
a  small  detachment  of  lansquenets,  stationed  on  the 
Quai  de  I'Ecole,  refused  to  surrender,  but  were 
promptly  put  to  the  sword  or  thrown  into  the  river. 
Henry  heard  the  noise  of  the  skirmish,  and,  as  he 
had  entered  the  gate  unarmed,  called  for  his  armour. 
For  a  moment,  fearless  soldier  as  he  was,  he  hesi- 
tated to  enter  the  gloomy  streets  which  had  so  often 
been  the  scene  of  riot  and  bloodshed  fatal  to  his 
friends  and  to  the  authority  of  his  predecessors.  But 
assured  that  his  soldiers  held  the  gates,  that  his  ad- 
herents were  in  possession  of  the  city,  the  Louvre 
and  the  twoChatelets,  he  proceeded  along  the  street 
of  St.  Honore  towards  the  bridge  of  Notre  Dame. 
The  people  crowded  the  street  in  silent  curiosity  and 
amazement  at  the  unexpected  sight,  while  the  King 
advanced  surrounded  by  his  escort,  trailing  their 
pikes  in  sign  of  peace.  Taking  their  clue  from  the 
shouts  of  the  better  class  of  citizens,  first  one  and 
then  another  of  the  mob  raised  the  ciy  of  "  Vive  le 
Roi."  Before  the  bridge  was  reached,  the  infection 
of  enthusiasm  had  spread  and  the  air  rang  with  loyal 
acclamations.  "  I  see,"  said  Henry,  "  how  these 
poor  people  have  been  tyrannised."  Then,  turning 
to  a  former  Leaguer  who  was  by  his  side,  he  asked, 
"  What  think  you  of  seeing  me  here  ?  "  "  That  what 
is  Caesar's,  Sire,  has  been  given  to  Caesar." — "  Given," 
said  the  King,  looking  at  Brissac,  who  rode  near  him, 
"  Given  !  no,  sold  and  for  a  good  price." 

When  he  approached  Notre  Dame  and  saw  the 
clergy  waiting  under  the  great  portal  to  receive  him, 
he  dismounted.     The  throng  was  so  great  that  he 


tr^C.i: 


#ani'    ■ 


w^^^  ^ 


15951  The  King  Enters  Paris.  28 


o 


was  lifted  off  his  feet.  The  guards  would  have 
made  the  people  stand  back,  but  Henry  prevented 
them ;  the  citizens,  he  said,  had  long  missed  the 
sight  of  a  King,  and  should  now  look  their  fill.  It 
was  no  small  risk  which  he  thus  ran  in  exposing 
himself  to  the  blow  of  any  frenzied  fanatic.  When 
the  Duchess  of  Montpensier  was  told  that  he 
had  entered  Paris,  she  exclaimed  that  surely 
some  one  would  be  found  to  plunge  a  dagger  into 
his  heart. 

Meantime  the  bells  pealed  forth  a  joyous  wel- 
come, while  the  Te  Deum  re-echoed  through  the 
nave  and  aisles  of  the  crowded  cathedral. 

Some  futile  attempt  made  by  the  Sixteen  to  rally 
their  forces  in  the  quarter  of  the  university  where 
they  were  strongest  was  repressed  without  blood- 
shed ;  and  the  King's  heralds,  accompanied  by  a 
shouting  crowd  of  boys  and  children,  rode  through 
the  town,  proclaiming  peace  and  amnesty. 

The  Duke  of  Feria  and  Don  Diego  Ibarra  were 
glad  to  accept  the  terms  offered  by  the  King,  and 
to  evacuate  the  city  with  bag  and  baggage  and 
the  honors  of  war.  At  three  o'clock,  pelted  by  a 
pitiless  March  storm,  3,000  Spaniards,  Italians  and 
Walloons  filed  through  the  gate  of  St.  Denis.  The 
King,  who  had  dined,  was  watching  them  from  a 
window  above  the  gate.  Feria  and  Ibarra  under 
circumstances  which  might  have  made  other  men 
feel  and  look  sufficiently  crestfallen,  were  sustained 
by  their  Castilian  pride,  and  barely  saluted  him 
whom  they  still  affected  to  call  the  Prince  of  Beam. 
Henry  returned  a  lower  bow  and  shouted,    "  Com- 


284  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

mend  me  to  your  master,  gentlemen,  but  don't 
come  back."  The  other  officers  and  the  common 
soldiers,  less  proud,  or  more  grateful  for  being 
allowed  to  depart  with  life  and  property,  passed 
under  the  King's  window  bareheaded  and  with  low 
obeisance. 

Fifty  or  sixty  of  the  most  rabid  Leaguers  accom- 
panied the  Spaniards.  The  legate,  who  refused  to 
see  the  King,  was  allowed  to  take  with  him  the 
Rector  of  the  Jesuits,  and  a  priest  who  had  insti- 
gated the  would-be  regicide,  Barriere. 

Henry  IV.  declared  that  he  was  determined  to 
forget  the  past  ;  that  it  would  be  as  unreasonable 
to  hold  the  fanatics  responsible  for  what  they  had 
done,  as  to  blame  a  man  who  was  beside  himself  for 
striking,  or  a  madman  for  walking  about  naked, — 
a  generous  and  politic  sentiment,  if  not  carried 
too  far.  But,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  a  well 
founded  confidence  in  his  boundless  placability, 
doubtless  encouraged  the  intrigues  and  conspiracies 
which  disturbed  Henry  IV's  reign  and  confirmed 
the  French  princes  and  nobles  in  the  belief  that 
rebellion  was  a  game  in  which  there  was  much  to 
win  and  little  to  lose. 

The  evening  of  his  first  day  in  Paris  the  King  not 
only  visited  the  mother  of  Mayenne,  the  old  Duchess 
of  Nemours,  and  the  widowed  Duchess  of  Guise,  to 
assure  them  of  his  favour  and  protection,  but  even 
joined  the  card  party  of  the  Duchess  of  Mont- 
pensier,  the  termagant  of  the  League,  the  patroness 
of  Jacques  Clement,  and  who  a  few  hours  before 
had  been  calling  for  some  one  to  assassinate  him. 


<  g    2 

zoo 


o        s 


1595]  The  King  Enters  Paris.  285 

Surely  he  had  the  right  to  forgive  his  own  ene- 
mies, but,  muttered  the  old  servants  of  Henry  III., 
was  it  thus  he  kept  the  oath  he  had  sworn  to  avenge 
the  murder  of  his  predecessor  ? 

The  possession  of  Paris,  followed  in  a  few  days 
by  the  news  of  the  submission  of  Rouen,  firmly 
established  the  King's  superiority  over  his  enemies. 
There  was  now  little  danger  that  the  hope  of  ob- 
taining the  support  of  a  dying  faction  would  tempt 
any  prince  to  play  the  part  of  a  pretender.  The 
Parliament,  without  awaiting  the  return  of  the 
Royalist  magistrates  from  Tours,  eagerly  annulled 
all  that  had  been  done  during  the  last  six  years  "  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  authority  of  the  Crown  or  of 
the  laws  of  the  country,"  and  summoned  the  Duke 
of  Mayenne  and  all  others  at  once  to  recognise 
Henry  IV.  as  their  lawful  King,  unless  they  chose 
to  incur  the  penalty  of  treason. 

Even  the  University  of  Paris,  so  long  the 
stronghold  of  opinions  which  subordinated  the 
hereditary  right  of  the  Prince  to  the  popular  will, 
and  to  the  approval  of  the  Church,  yielded  to  the 
pressure  of  circumstances  and  to  the  persuasion  of 
anew  Rector,  the  King's  physician.  The  Sorbonne 
solemnly  declared  that,  "  notwithstanding  the  doubts 
of  certain  men  imbued  with  erroneous  doctrine," 
Henry  of  Bourbon,  the  legitimate  heir  to  the 
throne,  must  be  obeyed  by  all  ;  even  though,  owing 
to  the  intrigues  of  the  enemies  of  the  country,  he 
had  not  as  yet  been  recognised  as  the  Eldest  Son  of 
the  Church  by  the  Holy  Father.  "■  All  power,"  as 
St.  Paul  teaches,  "  is  of  God.     The  Powers  that  be 


286  Henry  of  Navarre.  11592- 

are  ordained  of  God,  and  they  that  resist  shall 
receive  to  themselves  damnation." 

But  much  remained  to  be  done.  The  leaders  of 
the  League,  who  continued  in  arms,  must  be  con- 
ciliated or  subdued  ;  and  if  the  King  was  to  rule  as 
an  orthodox  and  Catholic  monarch,  if  no  pretext 
for  disobedience  was  to  be  left  to  his  subjects,  he 
must  be  acknowledged  by  the  Pope. 

In  the  North,  Laon,  Soissons,  Amiens  and  Beau- 
vais  were  held  by  Mayenne  and  Aumale,  supported 
by  the  Spaniards  at  La  Fere.  The  Duke  of  Guise 
was  still  master  of  Rheims  and  of  the  greater  part 
of  Champagne.  Chalons,  Dijon  and  most  of  the 
towns  of  Burgundy,  though  weary  of  the  war,  and 
anxious  to  return  to  their  allegiance,  were  coerced 
by  the  garrisons  of  Mayenne.  In  the  South,  Tou- 
louse and  a  considerable  part  of  Languedoc  were 
still  unsubdued. 

In  Provence  the  Leaguers  had  acknowledged 
Henry's  title,  but  were  still  in  arms  against  the  Duke 
of  Epernon,  the  Governor.  So  universal  w^as  the 
discontent  excited  by  the  outrages  of  his  Gascon 
mercenaries,  and  by  Epernon's  own  avarice  or 
cruelty,  that  the  King  was  obliged  to  allow  Lesdi- 
guieres  to  send  assistance  from  Dauphiny  to  the 
men  who  were  resisting  his  representative.  The 
Duke,  who  protested  that,  rather  than  lose  his 
government,  he  would  sell  himself  to  Spain  or  the 
Devil,  began  in  revenge  to  negotiate  with  Philip  II. 

The  exhaustion  and  misery  of  the  country  were 
greater  than  ever.  Plains  once  rich  with  harvest 
were  rapidly  becoming  barren  moors  or  fever-stricken 


1596]  The  King  Enters  Paris.  287 

morasses.  The  wretched  peasantry,  driven  by  des- 
peration and  want,  banded  themselves  together  and 
became  in  their  turn  the  robbers  of  those  who  still 
had  something  left.  In  the  Limousin,  Quercy  and 
La  Marche  50,000  men  were  in  arms  under  the 
name  of  "  Croquants."  Partly  by  force,  but  more 
by  policy,  the  royal  governors  dispersed  these  bands 
before  the  movement  spread  into  Poitou. 

When  there  were  such  troubles  in  the  heart  of  the 
kingdom,  and  so  many  rebels  and  traitors  in  all  the 
frontier  provinces,  the  King  of  Spain  might  well 
hope  that  even  if  he  could  not  seat  the  Lifanta  on 
the  French  throne,  he  might  easily  find  sufificient 
employment  for  Henry  IV.  at  home  to  prevent  his 
becoming  troublesome  abroad. 

The  power  of  Spain  was  most  dangerous  on  the 
northern  frontier,  and  Mayenne  was  at  Laon  urgently 
pressing  the  Governor  of  the  Netherlands,  the  Arch- 
duke Ernest,  to  send  his  troops  into  Picardy.  Henry, 
therefore,  marched  in  person  against  Laon,  that  hill 
fortress,  which  had  been  the  capital  of  those  Caro- 
lingians  from  whom  the  genealogists  of  the  Guises 
derived  their  patron's  claim  to  the  throne. 

Laon  surrendered  on  August  2  (1594),  but  not 
without  much  loss  to  the  besiegers.  Givry,  the 
gallant  gentleman  who  had  done  Henry  such  good 
service  on  the  day  of  his  accession,  was  one  of  those 
who  fell.  A  fortnight  later,  Amiens  and  the  other 
Picard  towns  submitted. 

The  lieutenant  of  Guise  in  Champagne,  a  soldier 
of  fortune,  who,  although  the  son  of  a  gamekeeper, 
called  himself  St.  Pol  and  Duke  of  Rethelois,  treated 


2  88  Henry  of  Navarre,  [1592- 

the  Duke  with  insolent  independence.  In  an  alter- 
cation between  them  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  hilt  of 
his  sword,  but  before  he  could  draw  it,  fell  stabbed 
to  the  heart  by  Guise.  The  dead  man's  mercenaries 
at  once  opened  the  gates  of  the  towns  they  garri- 
soned to  the  Royalists.  The  Duchess  of  Guise,  won 
by  the  King's  courtesy,  urged  her  son  while  it  was 
yet  time  to  accept  the  generous  terms  offered  : 
400,000  crowns  to  pay  his  debts,  pensions  for  him- 
self and  his  brothers,  and  the  government  of  Pro- 
vence in  exchange  for  that  of  Champagne. 

The  family  of  Lorraine  imagined  that  their  descent 
from  King  Rene  of  Anjou  gave  them  an  hereditary 
claim  to  Provence,  which  was  not  less  a  frontier  prov- 
ince and  exposed  to  Spanish  aggression  and  intrigue 
than  Champagne.  The  majority,  therefore,  of  the 
Royal  Council  protested  against  the  policy  of  en- 
trusting it  to  the  young  man  whom  the  King's 
enemies  had  put  forward  as  a  pretender  to  the 
Crown.  But  the  event  proved  the  wisdom  of 
Henry's  decision.  Guise,  though  young  and  fiery, 
had  a  reserve  of  sober  sense.  In  the  days  of  his 
popularity  he  had  checked  the  foolish  adulation  of 
the  rabble,  and  had  threatened  to  kill  with  his  own 
hand  any  one  who  addressed  him  as  King.  Eper- 
non  indeed,  immediately  on  hearing  that  Guise  had 
been  appointed  governor,  concluded  his  treaty  with 
Philip  II.,  and  persuaded  the  Leaguist  magistrates 
of  Marseilles  to  follow  his  example.  Marseilles,  the 
one  great  port  between  Barcelona  and  Genoa,  had 
long  been  the  object  of  Spanish  ambition.  Carlo 
Doria,    with   a   Spanish    fleet,    was   already    in    the 


1595]  The  King  Enters  Paris.  289 

harbour,  when  a  conspiracy  and  a  rising  concerted 
between  Guise  and  the  townspeople,  who  detested 
the  yoke  of  Spain,  drove  the  foreigners  and  their 
supporters  from  the  town.  It  was  no  small  triumph 
for  Henry  of  Bourbon  to  have  turned  the  son  of 
the  hero  of  the  League  into  an  instrument  of  his 
anti-Spanish  policy.     (Feb.  17,  1596.) 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  followed  the  example  of  his 
young  kinsman,  abandoned  the  League,  disbanded 
his  army  and  restored  Toul  and  Verdun  to  France 
for  900,000  crowns. 

After  the  submission  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  and 
the  treaty  with  Lorraine,  the  only  members  of 
the  Lotharingian  family  whose  hostility  was  still 
formidable  to  Henry  IV.  were  the  Dukes  of  May- 
enne  and  Mercoeur.  These  nobles,  although  they 
could  no  longer  hope  to  deprive  him  of  the  Crown, 
still  trusted  to  be  able  to  convert  their  Governments 
of  Burgundy  and  Brittany  into  hereditary  and  inde- 
pendent principalities.  The  support  of  Spain  gave 
them  courage  and  strength  to  continue  their  rebel- 
lion ;  the  fact  that  the  King  was  still  unabsolved  by 
the  Pope  supplied  a  pretext. 

In  all  the  difificulties  and  dangers  which  he  had 
encountered,  Henry  traced  the  persistent  malevo- 
lence of  his  hereditary  enemy,  Philip  II.  To  hurl 
defiance  against  the  dreaded  tyrant  by  an  open  decla- 
ration of  war  would  not  only  satisfy  his  personal  re- 
sentment, but  might  also  be  justified  as  politically 
expedient.  Whether  war  was  declared  or  not,  it  could 
not  be  doubted  that  Philip  II.  would  do  France  all 
the  injury  possible.    But  the  less  Henry  IV.  appeared 


290  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1592- 

to  fear  him,  the  less  dangerous  would  he  be.  Much 
of  his  power  to  do  harm  depended  on  the  dread 
inspired  by  the  name  of  Spain,  a  dread  based  more 
on  her  old  renown  than  on  her  present  strength. 
Moreover,  when  once  war  had  been  declared,  it 
would  be  impossible  for  Frenchmen  any  longer  to 
pretend  that  in  placing  themselves  under  the  pro- 
tection of  Philip  II.  they  were  not  allying  themselves 
with  the  enemy  of  their  country.  Henry's  Protestant 
allies  suspected  him,  since  his  abjuration,  of  a  wish 
to  come  to  terms  with  Spain  at  their  expense.  Open 
hostility  would  be  the  best  reply  to  such  suspicions. 
The  English  and  Dutch  promised  that  they  would 
find  Philip  II.  such  occupation  elsewhere,  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  his  armies  to  invade  France. 
The  Duke  of  Bouillon  was  certain  that  by  means  of 
his  friends  in  Luxembourg,  and  other  Spanish  prov- 
inces, he  would  be  able  to  do  wonders  for  the  King's 
service.  Sancy  boasted  that  he  could  induce  the 
Swiss  not  only  to  connive  at,  but  even  actively  to 
assist  in,  the  conquest  of  Franche  Comt^,  although 
they  had  guaranteed  the  neutrality  of  that  province. 
\  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  who  had   persuaded    Henry   to 

j       acknowledge  and  legitimise  her  recently  born  son, 
/       Caesar,  supported  the  war  party.     If  Franche  Comt6 
was  conquered,  she  hoped  that  it  would  be  bestowed 
on  him  as  an  appanage. 

Yielding  to  these  arguments  as  well   as   to   his 
own   indignation,  Henry  determined   on   open  war 
'      and  closed  his  ears  to  Sully  and  other  more  cautious 
advisers,  who  urged  him  to  wait  till  he  had  consoli- 
dated his  power  at  home,  before  by  an  open  defiance 


1595] 


The  Kino  Enters  Paris. 

<3 


291 


he  roused  the  old  King  to  exert  to  the  utmost 
his  still  formidable  resources.  The  Spanish  mon- 
archy was  like  some  mighty  beast  of  chase  which, 
bleeding  from  many  wounds  and  apparently  ex- 
hausted, may  yet,  if  the  hunter  approach  too 
incautiously,  gather  its  failing  energies  at  the  touch 
of  his  weapon  and  perish  not  unavenged. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

OPEN  WAR  WITH  SPAIN — PEACE  WITH  FOREIGN  AND 
DOMESTIC  ENEMIES — THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES. 


1 595-1 598. 

jEFORE  the  Spaniards  were  met  in  the 
field,  it  was  necessary  to  deal  with  a 
domestic  enemy  scarcely  less  danger- 
ous. 

The  Jesuits,  alleging  the  traditional 
respect  of  their  order  for  the  Holy 
See,  refused  to  offer  up  prayers  in  their  churches 
for  an  excommunicated  Prince. 

It  was  not  true  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  been 
founded,  as  was  pretended  by  their  French  oppo- 
nents, to  make  the  Church  subservient  to  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  Spanish  King.  The  primary  object  of 
Loyola  and  of  his  successors  had  been  to  maintain 
and  to  extend  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Church  ; 
to  advance  her  frontiers  over  the  realms  of  heathen- 
dom as  well  as  to  defend  them  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  heresy.  It  was  because,  in  the  main,  the 
policy  of  Philip  II.  had  not  been  inconsistent  with 
this  object,  because  his  enemies  had  also  been  the 

292 


open  War  with  Spain.  293 

enemies  of  Romanisn,  and  not  because  the  founder 
and  the  first  generals  of  the  Order  had  been  the  sub- 
jects of  Spain,  that  the  Jesuits  had  been  the  close 
allies  of  the  Spanish  King.  They  had  been  intro- 
duced into  France  by  Henry  II.  at  a  time  when 
he  had  determined  to  join  the  crusa,de  against  heresy. 
The  rapid  increase  of  their  numbers,  the  crowds 
who  flocked  to  their  churches,  the  popularity  of  their 
schools,  the  noble  and  wealthy  penitents  who  showed 
by  large  gifts  and  bequests  their  gratitude  for  the 
skill  with  which  the  fathers  ministered  to  the 
diseases  of  the  soul,  increased  the  jealousy  and  sus- 
picion with  which  they  were  from  the  first  regarded 
by  the  constituted  authorities  in  Church  and  State. 
The  Parliaments  resented  their  assertion  of  papal 
supremacy  and  their  attacks  upon  the  absolute 
authority  of  the  Crown.  The  higher  clergy,  not  less 
anxious  than  the  lawyers  to  maintain  the  liberties 
of  the  Galilean  church,  were  further  incensed  by  the 
immunity  claimed  by  the  Jesuits  from  episcopal 
jurisdiction.  The  older  orders  were  irritated  by  their 
popularity,  their  assumption  of  a  name  which  seemed 
to  imply  that  they  were  the  truer  and  more  familiar 
servants  of  the  common  Master.  The  University  of 
Paris  was  jealous  of  their  educational  success,  and 
after  affiliating  on  certain  conditions  their  College 
of  Clermont,  was  even  more  indignant  that  the 
popularity  of  their  instruction  should  attract  the 
vast  majority  of  students  belonging  to  the  higher 
classes,  than  it  was  at  the  non-fulfilment  of  the 
stipulated  terms.  In  1565  the  University,  supported 
by  the  Bishop  and  Clergy  of  Paris,  as  well  as  by  the 


7 


294  Henry  of  Navarre. 


[1595- 


municipality,  ordered  the  Jesuits  to  close  their  lec- 
ture rooms.  An  appeal  to  the  law-courts  followed. 
Notwithstanding  the  ill-will  of  the  lawyers,  the 
support  of  powerful  friends  obtained  for  the  Jesuits 
the  permission  of  Parliament  to  continue  their 
teaching,  pending  the  final  decision  of  their  case  and 
indefinitely  postponed  that  decision.  While  the 
League  flourished,  the  Jesuits  had  been  all  powerful 
in  the  University  as  well  as  elsewhere.  But  the  old 
quarrel  between  the  Order  and  the  University  re- 
mained in  suspense,  and  appeared  to  the  King's 
advisers  to  supply  a  convenient  weapon  against  his 
most  insidious  enemies.  The  new  Rector  persuaded 
the  Faculties  to  reopen  the  litigation.  Not  satisfied 
with  demanding  that  the  Jesuits  should  be  forbidden 
to  teach,  he  asked  that  they  should  be  banished 
from  the  kingdom  as  the  spies  and  tools  of  Spain. 
The  case  against  the  Society  was  argued  at  great 
length,  with  much  eloquence  and  more  learning  by 
counsel  representing  the  University  and  the  paro- 
chial clergy  of  Paris.  The  advocate  of  the  Univer- 
sity was  Antoine  Arnauld,  the  father  of  a  son  of 
like  name,  destined  to  win  undying  fame  in  battle 
against  the  same  antagonists. 

Arnauld  exaggerated  the  subservience  of  the 
Jesuits  to  Spain,  but  not  the  irreconcilable  antago- 
nism between  the  principles  of  the  Order  and  Galli- 
canism.  The  Galilean  Church  had  always  maintained 
the  supreme  authority  of  oecumenical  councils  in 
things  spiritual,  and  the  independence  in  its  own 
sphere  of  the  temporal  power.  The  Jesuits  on  the 
other  hand  taught  that  the  Pope  when  he  spoke  as 


1598]  Open   War  with  Spain.  295 

Christ's  vicar  was  the  supreme  and  infaUible  head  of 
the  Church,  and  that  an  excommunicated  Prince 
was  a  tyrant,  to  whom  his  subjects  not  only  owed 
no  allegiance,  but  whom  any  might  lawfully  slay. 

To  the  charges  of  having  violated  every  condition 
imposed  upon  them  when  admitted  into  the  king- 
dom, of  aiming  at  the  subversion  of  the  national 
laws  in  Church  and  State,  of  instigating  rebellion 
and  assassination,  were  added  those  other  accusa- 
tions to  which,  whether  more  or  less  founded,  it  has 
been  the  misfortune  of  the  Order  to  be  at  all  times 
exposed. 

The  counsel  of  the  parochial  clergy  dwelt  on 
the  sinister  characteristic  which  distinguished  the 
Jesuits  from  other  monastic  bodies.  The  statutes 
and  rules  of  the  older  Orders  were  fixed  and 
immutable,  while  theirs  could  be  changed  or  sus- 
pended by  their  superiors  as  season,  place  and 
circumstances  might  be  thought  to  require.  Yet 
so  great  was  the  influence  of  the  Order,  so  numer- 
ous and  powerful  their  friends,  that  they  probably 
would  have  escaped  condemnation  but  for  an  event 
which  excited  great  popular  feeling  against  them. 

On  November  27  (1594)  after  the  King,  on  his 
return  from  a  journey,  had  entered  the  house  of 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  a  young  man  slipped  in,  unper- 
ceived  among  the  crowd  of  courtiers,  rushed  forward 
and  struck  at  him  with  a  knife.  The  blow  might 
have  been  fatal  if  at  the  very  moment  Henry  had 
not  stooped  forward  to  raise  two  gentlemen  who  had 
been  presented  to  him  and  who  were  kneeling,  ac- 
cording to  custom,  to  clasp  his  knees.     As  it  was, 


296  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595^ 

his  upper  lip  was  cut  through  and  his  mouth  wound- 
ed. The  would-be  assassin  proved  to  be  a  youth, 
Jean  Chastel  by  name,  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  whose 
weak  intellect  had  been  shaken  by  the  discipline  and 
the  threats  of  damnation  with  which  they  had  at- 
tempted to  cure  his  moral  depravity.  He  hoped 
by  some  deed  of  conspicuous  merit  to  escape  the 
punishment  of  his  sins  ;  nay,  to  exchange  the  pains 
of  hell  for  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  should  he  perish 
in  the  endeavour  to  deliver  his  church  and  country 
from  an  excommunicated  tyrant. 

The  attempt  to  assassinate  the  King  was  certain 
to  produce  consequences  so  inconvenient  to  the 
Jesuits,  that  they  must  be  absolved  from  the  charge 
of  having  directly  incited  the  murderer.  But  they 
who  excuse  and  glorify  crime,  cannot  refuse  responsi- 
bility for  the  fruits  of  their  doctrine.  The  men  who 
had  exalted  Jaques  Clement  as  a  saint  and  martyr 
were  not  less  guilty  than  if  they  had  placed  the 
knife  in  Jean  Chastel's  hand.  The  Parliament  no 
longer  hesitated.  On  the  same  day  that  Jean  Chas- 
tel was  sentenced  to  suffer  the  barbarous  punishment 
inflicted  on  regicides — his  flesh  to  be  lacerated  with 
red-hot  pincers,  his  right  hand  to  be  struck  off,  his 
limbs  to  be  torn  asunder  by  four  horses — the  Jesuits 
were  banished  from  Paris  and  the  kingdom.  "  It 
seems,"  jested  the  King,  "  that  the  reverend  fathers 
could  only  be  convicted  by  my  mouth."  There  is 
no  more  convincing  proof  of  the  imperturbable  se- 
renity and  healthy  elasticity  of  Henry's  tempera- 
ment than  the  fact  that  it  was  not  warped  by  the 
ever  present  danger  of  assassination,  a  strain   under 


1598]  Open  War  with  Spain.  297 

which  so  many  not  ignoble  natures  have  given 
way.  Soon  after  his  accession  he  wrote  to  his  mis- 
tress that  the  number  of  men  suborned  to  attempt 
his  Hfe  was  greater  than  could  easily  be  believed. 
But  God,  he  added,  would  keep  him.  He  could 
scarcely  be  persuaded  to  take  the  commonest  pre- 
cautions. Yet  it  was  with  a  sad  and  depressed  coun- 
tenance that  he  rode  to  Notre  Dame  to  offer  thanks 
for  his  escape.  When  a  courtier  called  his  atten- 
tion to  the  popular  enthusiasm,  he  shook  his  head 
and  replied,  "  They  are  a  mob  {C'est  un  peuple\  ;  if 
my  greatest  enemy  was  where  I  am,  and  they  saw 
him  pass,  they  would  do  as  much  for  him  as  for  me, 
and  shout  even  louder."  \ 

On  January  17  (1595),  war  was  declared  against  X 
Spain.  The  Duke  of  Bouillon  (Turenne)  had  at  his 
own  suggestion  been  sent  to  invade  Luxembourg. 
The  Duke  of  Montmorency,  on  whom  the  King  had 
bestowed  the  sword  of  Constable,  condescended  to 
show  his  gratitude  by  leaving  his  province  of  Lan- 
guedoc  to  drive  Nemours,  and  an  army  sent  to  his 
assistance  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Lyons.  But  it  was  in  Burgundy  and 
Franche-Comte  that  the  King  hoped  to  strike  a 
decisive  blow.  Burgundy  was  the  province  in  which 
Mayenne  trusted,  even  if  the  rest  of  France  slipped 
from  his  grasp,  to  establish  himself  as  an  indepen- 
dent ruler.  Franche-Comte  was  an  outlying  portion 
of  the  Spanish  dominions,  inhabited  by  a  French- 
speaking  population,  which  the  King  thought 
might  form  an  appanage  for  Gabrielle's  little  son, 
'fecently  created  Duke  of    Vendome.     But    money 


■i 


298  Henry  of  Navarre,  [1595- 

was  needed  to  carry  on  the  war.  The  disorganisa- 
tion of  the  administration,  not  less  than  the  exhaus- 
tion and  misery  of  the  country,  made  it  very  difficult 
to  obtain  the  necessary  resources.  However  reluc- 
tant to  impose  new  burdens  on  his  people,  the  King 
could  not  begin  the  campaign  with  an  empty 
treasury,  and  took  the  remonstrances  of  the  Chambre 
des  Comptes  on  the  measures  adopted  in  no  good 
part.  They  raised  objections,  he  told  them,  but 
suggested  no  other  means  whereby  he  could  support 
his  armies.  If  they  had  each  offered  him  2,000  or 
3,000  crowns,  or  advised  him  to  take  their  salaries, 
there  would  have  been  no  need  of  these  new  edicts. 
He  was  not  less  outspoken  to  the  Parliament,  the 
fervour  of  whose  new  loyalty  had  not  been  strong 
enough  to  overcome  their  inveterate  habit  of  seek- 
ing to  exalt  their  own  importance,  by  criticising  and 
delaying  the  measures  sent  to  them  for  registration. 
"You  have,"  he  said,  "kept  me  waiting  these  three 
months,  and  I  am  now  going  to  my  army,  as  ill 
provided  as  ever  Prince  was.  You  will  shortly  see 
the  injury  you  have  done  me.  There  are  three 
hostile  armies  in  my  kingdom.  I  shall  seek  them 
out  and  I  trust  to  bring  them  to  account.  I  shall 
freely  expose  my  life.  God  will  not  desert  me.  He 
has  miraculously  called  me  to  the  throne  and  as- 
sisted me  till  now.  He  will  continue  to  help  me. 
He  does  not  leave  His  works  imperfect.  ...  Be 
as  careful  of  what  concerns  the  Commonwealth  as 
you  are  of  your  own  interests.  Do  your  duty.  Be- 
ware lest  the  venom  of  passion  enter  the  heart. 
France  is  the  man,  Paris  is  the   heart.     I  love  you 


'598]  Open   War  with  Spain.  299 

as  much  as  King  can  love.  My  words  are  not  of 
two  colours.  What  I  have  in  my  mouth  I  have  in 
my  heart.  It  is  the  nature  of  the  French  not  to 
iove  what  they  see.  When  you  no  longer  see  me 
you  will  love  me ;  and  when  you  have  lost  me  you 
will  regret  me." 

The  King  was  eager  to  join  his  troops  in  Bur-. 
gundy.  Bouillon  feebly  supported  by  the  Dutch 
had  effected  nothing  in  Luxembourg  ;  but  the  Duke 
of  Longueville,  Governor  of  Picardy,  had  overrun 
Artois,  defeating  the  Spanish  governor  of  that  prov- 
ince, and,  since  the  Archduke  Ernest,  Governor  of  the 
Netherlands,  had  recently  died  (February  20th),  it 
was  supposed  that  the  Spaniards  would  not,  during 
that  spring,  attempt  to  do  more  than  hold  their  own 
on  the  Flemish  frontier. 

The  younger  Biron,  who,  since  his  father's  death 
had  received  the  stafT  of  Marshal  and  the  govern- 
ment of  Burgundy,  had  been  sent  to  take  possession 
of  his  province.  Assisted  by  the  inhabitants,  he  had 
driven  Mayenne's  garrisons  from  town  after  town, 
and  by  the  end  of  May  had  obtained  possession  of 
the  city  of  Dijon,  although  the  citadel  was  still  held 
by  Mayenne's  soldiers. 

Don  Fernan  de  Velasco,  Constable  of  Castile  and 
Governor  of  Milan,  was  ordered  by  his  master  to 
collect  forthwith  all  the  forces  he  possibly  could, 
and  to  drive  the  French  troops  which  had  crossed 
the  frontiers  out  of  Franche-Comte.  Velasco  with 
10,000  men  easily  compelled  the  Lotharingian  mer- 
cenaries, who,  as  yet,  were  the  only  French  army  in 
the  country,  to  retreat.    He  boasted  that  the  Prince  of 


y 


300  Henry  of  Navarre.  t1595 

Bcarn  should  rue  his  impertinent  defiance  of  Spain, 
threatening  to  devastate  France  with  fire  and  sword. 
Mayenne  had  joined  him  with  an  inconsiderable 
force,  all  that  was  left  of  the  army  of  the  League. 

Biron  urged  the  King  to  hasten  to  his  assistance. 
Henry,  who  left  Paris  on  May  30th  reached  Dijon  on 
June  4th,  the  very  day  on  which  the  Constable  of  Cas- 
tile was  preparing  to  cross  the  Saone,  which  divided 
the  county  from  the  duchy  of  Burgundy,  the  terri- 
tory of  the  empire  from  that  of  France,  at  a  little 
town  called  Gray,  eight  leagues  from  Dijon. 

The  King  and  Biron  determined  to  take  up  a 
strong  position  at  Lux,  half  way  between  Dijon  and 
Gray,  with  their  infantry,  and  to  delay  with  their 
cavalry  the  advance  of  the  enemy,  till  their  position 
was  entrenched  and  the  siege  works  round  the  citadel 
of  Dijon  strengthened.  Henry,  who  was  without 
any  certain  information  of  the  Spaniard's  movements, 
sent  Biron  forward  with  a  small  detachment  of  cav- 
alry to  discover  whether  some  troops  reported  by 
his  scouts  to  be  advancing,  were  an  isolated  body  of 
cavalry  or  the  advanced  guard  of  Velasco's  army. 

After  passing  Fontaine  Fran^aise,  a  village  not  far 
from  the  frontier,  Biron  was  met  by  an  officer  pre- 
viously detached  by  the  King,  to  discover  the 
enemy's  position,  who  assured  the  Marshal  that  their 
army  was  nowhere  near;  that  the  cavalry  in  front  of 
them  were  only  some  two  hundred  men  with  w^hom 
he  had  been  engaged.  Upon  this,  Biron  at  once 
sent  word  to  Henry  that  he  might  safely  advance, 
and  himself  hurried  forward  with  his  men,  putting  to 
flight  some  fifty  or  sixty  skirmishers  whom  he  met 


1598]  Ope7i  War  with  Spain.  301 

as  he  pressed  on  to  the  summit  of  a  hill  midway  be- 
tween Fontaine  Fran^aise  and  Sainte  Seine,  another 
hamlet  close  to  the  frontier.  From  the  top  of  the 
hill  he  commanded  a  wider  view,  and  soon  saw  that 
he  was  on  the  point  of  being  surrounded  by  a  large 
force  of  cavalry  supported  by  infantry.  "Would  I 
were  dead,"  he  exclaimed,  "  I  have  sent  for  the  King 
and  here  is  the  whole  Spanish  army."  He  at  once 
tried  to  fall  back  so  as  to  warn  the  King,  but  was 
furiously  charged  by  the  enemy.  Wounded  in  face 
and  belly,  covered  with  blood  and  dust,  he  main- 
tained himself  against  ever  increasing  odds,  till  Henry 
came  up.  Even  then  but  two  or  three  hundred 
French  horsemen  were  collected,  while  the  enemy 
were  four  times  as  numerous.  The  King  without 
stopping  to  put  on  his  breastplate  charged  and  drove 
back  Biron's  assailants,  and  then,  a  few  more  of  his 
men  having  come  up,  attacked  in  succession,  and 
with  such  fury,  three  squadrons  of  the  enemy's  horse, 
each  more  numerous  than  his  own,  that  he  drove 
them  back  in  confusion  to  seek  the  support  of  their 
infantry. 

Four  hundred  Spanish  men-at-arms  had  not  been 
engaged.  Mayenne  urged  Velasco  to  cut  off  the 
King's  retreat  with  his  infantry,  and  to  allow  him  to 
lead  the  whole  of  the  cavalry  against  the  handful  of 
French,  who  were  exhausted  by  their  repeated 
charges.  If  this  were  done,  the  defeat  and  probably 
the  death  or  captivity  of  the  King  would  be  the  re- 
sult. But  the  Constable  of  Castile  could  not  believe 
that  the  King  would  have  bee^n  so  foolhardy  were 
not  his  army  close  at  hand. 


302  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

While  the  enemy's  generals  debated,  new  bodies 
of  French  horse  were  constantly  gathering  round 
their  King,  who  soon  found  himself  too  strong  to 
fear  an  attack.  On  the  next  day  Velasco  recrossed 
the  Saone,  deaf  to  Mayenne's  entreaties  that  he 
would  at  least  make  some  attempt  to  relieve  the 
citadel  of  Dijon.  Mayenne  had  no  personal  animosity 
to  the  King  and  had  long  cordially  detested  his 
Spanish  allies.  As  they  would  do  nothing  to  assist 
him  he  gladly  acquiesced  in  a  suggestion  secretly 
made  to  him  by  Henry,  that  he  should  retire  to 
Chalons,  the  only  important  town  he  still  held  in 
Burgundy,  and  remain  there  quiet  and  unmolested 
till  they  could  come  to  terms. 

The  so-called  battle  of  Fontaine  Fran^aise,  was 
only  a  brilliant  cavalry  skirmish,  but  by  removing 
any  inclination  Velasco  may  have  had  to  invade 
France,  by  securing  Burgundy  and  determining  the 
submission  of  Mayenne,  it  was  as  useful  as  the  gain  of 
a  pitched  battle.  Henry,  by  his  headlong  bravery, 
no  doubt  imperilled  a  life  of  inestimable  value  to  his 
country,  but  it  was  at  the  price  of  such  risk  that  he 
maintained  the  reputation  for  chivalrous  courage, 
which  gave  him  his  chief  hold  on  the  loyalty  and 
affection  of  the  French  gentry. 

During  the  next  two  months,  the  royal  army 
wasted  Franche-Comte  without  provoking  the  Span- 
iards to  meet  them  in  the  field.  The  Swiss  cantons, 
guarantors  of  the  neutrality  of  the  County,  had 
been  tempted  to  acquiesce  in  the  French  invasion 
by  a  promise  that,  if  conquered,  the  province  should 
be  formed  into  a  semi-independent  state  under  their 


1598]  Open  War  with  Spain.  303 

suzerainty.  But  reflecting  how  idle  this  suzerainty 
would  be,  they  now  alleged  ancient  treaties,  and 
summoned  Henry  to  withdraw  his  forces.  He  was 
anxious  not  to  offend  such  useful  allies,  perhaps  also, 
since  his  presence  and  his  resources  were  urgently 
required  in  another  quarter,  glad  of  an  honourable 
pretext  for  withdrawing  from  an  arduous  adventure 
too  lightly  undertaken. 

Longueville,  the  Governor  of  Picardy,  died  soon 
after  his  success  in  Artois,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother-in-law,  the  Count  of  St.  Pol.  Philip  H. 
strained  every  nerve  to  enable  the  Count  of  Fuentes, 
his  commander  in  the  Low  Countries,  to  carry  on 
offensive  operations  with  a  chance  of  success. 
Fuentes  entered  Picardy  with  10,000  veteran  troops 
and  after  taking  Catelet  laid  siege  to  Doullens. 
Admiral  Villars,  the  brave  and  able  defender  of 
Rouen,  and  the  Duke  of  Nevers  were  ordered  to 
hasten  with  the  forces  they  commanded  into  Nor- 
mandy and  Champagne  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Count  of  St.  Pol  and  of  the  Duke  of  Bouillon  in 
Picardy.  Bouillon,  always  impatient  of  an  equal 
and  insubordinate  to  a  superior,  quarrelled  with 
Villars  and  was  anxious  to  achieve  something  deci- 
sive before  the  arrival  of  Nevers,  to  whom  the  King 
had  entrusted  the  chief  command.  Supported  by 
St.  Pol  he  insisted  that  the  relief  of  Doullens  should 
at  once  be  attempted  and  would  not  listen  to  Villars 
who  urged  caution  and  the  prudence  of  awaiting 
the  hourly  expected  approach  of  Nevers  and  his 
army. 

The  result  was  a  most  crushing  defeat  (July  24, 


304  Henry  of  Navarre.  t1595- 

1595),  3,000  Frenchmen,  and  among  them  600  men  of 
quahty,  were  killed.  Villars,  after  fighting  bravely 
and  with  perhaps  too  much  pertinacity,  was  taken 
prisoner  and  put  to  death  in  cold  blood  by  the 
Spaniards  as  a  "  traitor."  Doullens  shortly  after  fell 
(July  31st).  The  atrocities  which  accompanied  the 
sack  of  the  town  were  marked  by  that  cold-blooded 
devilry  in  which  the  Spanish  troops  surpassed  all 
rivals. 

Bouillon,  far  from  learning  modesty  in  defeat,  lost 
no  opportunity  of  thwarting  Nevers,  who  had  joined 
his  colleagues  a  few  hours  after  the  rout.  No 
attempt  was  made  to  prevent  Fuentes  from  laying 
siege  to  Cambray  with  18,000  soldiers  besides  5,000 
sappers  and  72  cannon,  a  most  formidable  park  of 
artillery  for  those  days.  Cambray,  a  free  Imperial 
city,  had  been  taken  in  1581  by  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
who  had  placed  a  certain  Balagny,  bastard  of 
Monluc,  Bishop  of  Valence,  in  command  of  the  town 
and  garrison. 

On  the  2d  of  October  while  the  garrison  was  on 
the  walls  expecting  an  assault,  the  townspeople 
seized  one  of  the  gates  and  admitted  Fuentes,  who 
had  promised  to  restore  and  respect  the  ancient 
privileges  and  liberties  of  the  city.  A  week  later 
the  citadel  in  which  Balagny  and  the  French  had 
taken  refuge  capitulated. 

On  hearing  that  Cambray  was  threatened,  Henry 
hurried  from  Lyons  towards  the  North-western 
frontier. 

When  Henry  reached  his  army,  he  found  the 
Spaniards    in    Cambray,    and  the    French    frontier- 


1598]  Open   War  with  Spain.  305 

towns  panic-stricken.  Collecting  all  his  resources 
and  assisted  by  the  Dutch  with  2,000  men  and  the 
pay  for  2,000  more,  the  King  laid  siege  to  La  Fere, 
a  Picard  fortress  surrendered  by  the  League  as 
the  price  of  Spanish  help,  and  in  which  great  stores 
of  warlike  material  and  provisions  had  been  accumu- 
lated by  Fuentes. 

The  siege  of  La  Fere  continued  throughout  the 
winter.  Meantime  the  leaders  of  the  League  found 
in  the  absolution  of  Henry  by  the  Pope,  a  decent 
pretext  for  withdrawing  from  a  hopeless  contest. 

Dislike  of  Spain,  which  he  shared  with  the  other 
Italian  princes,  the  warm  intercession  of  Venice 
and  of  the  Duke  of  Florence,  the  advice  of  his  con- 
fessor Baronius  and  of  his  minister  Cardinal  Toleto, 
led  Clement  VI IL  to  regret  the  harshness  with 
which  he  had  rejected  the  French  King's  overtures. 
It  was  an  indication  of  his  changed  disposition  that 
he  authorised  the  monastic  orders  in  France  to  men- 
tion the  King  in  their  prayers. 

Notwithstanding  the  expulsion  of  their  order 
from  Paris  and  Northern  France,  the  most  influen- 
tial Jesuits  agreed  with  Toleto  in  approving  of  a 
conciliatory  policy.  Partly  because  they  thus  hoped 
to  make  their  peace  with  the  French  Court  and  to 
obtain  the  revocation  of  the  sentence  of  banish- 
ment, partly  because  the  alliance  of  the  order  with 
Spain  had  broken  down.  Philip  II.  only  tolerated 
the  Jesuits  with  their  secret  and  powerful  organisa- 
tion so  long  as  they  were  thoroughly  Spanish.  In 
1573,  a  Spanish  Jew  was  about  to  be  elected  general. 
The  party  in  the  order  opposed  to  Spain   brought 


3o6  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1596- 

about  his  rejection.  Henceforth  PhiHp  regarded 
the  order  with  dislike  as  a  mere  instrument  of  the 
Papacy.  Their  rehgious  doctrine  appeared  ques- 
tionable to  the  Dominicans  of  the  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion. Their  polemic  against  the  Calvinists,  their 
desire  to  make  things  easy,  so  to  speak,  to  put  things 
in  a  way  acceptable  to  the  common  sense  of  the 
average  man,  led  them  to  express  views  not  to  be 
reconciled  with  the  theology  of  Aquinas,  the  canon 
of  Dominican  orthodoxy. 

The  Jesuits,  on  the  other  hand,  were  too  clear- 
sighted not  to  see  the  growing  impotence  of  Spain. 
\  To  make  France  subservient  to  their  policy  would 
be  a  triumph  not  perhaps  unattainable  by  patient 
perseverance. 

The  adroit  Du  Perron,  who  had  played  a  con- 
X  spicuous  part  in  his  master's  conversion,  arrived  at 
.  Rome  (July,  1595)  to  assist  Cardinal  d'Ossat  in  set- 
tling with  the  Curia  the  method  and  conditions  of 
the  King's  absolution.  Du  Perron  has  been  accused 
of  sacrificing  his  master's  interests  to  the  hope  of  a 
Cardinal's  hat  ;  a  charge  rendered  credible  by  the 
contemptible  character  of  the  time-server  against 
whom  it  was  brought.  Yet  he  supported  D'Ossat 
in  stoutly  contesting  every  point,  and  those  on  which 
they  gave  way  were  for  the  most  part  matters  of 
form  and  ceremonial ;  such  as  the  blows  which  the 
representatives  of  Henry  knelt  to  receive,  while  they 
kissed  the  Pope's  foot,  before  he  pronounced  the 
formula  of  absolution,— concessions  which  maybe 
justified  as  the  price  paid  to  the  Holy  See  for  the 
surrender  by  it  of  the  two  most  vital  points  at  issue. 


19981  Open  War  zuith  Spain.  307 

I.  The  French  refused  to  admit  that  the  heresy 
or  excommunication  of  their  King  could  affect  his 
right  to  the  throne  or  his  claim  to  the  allegiance  of 
his  subjects  :  and  by  allowing  that  he  did  not  require 
"  temporal  rehabilitation  "  the  Pope  gave  up  that 
dogma  of  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual  over  the 
temporal  power,  which,  since  the  days  of  Hilde- 
brand,  it  had  been  the  aim  of  his  predecessors  to 
establish. 

II.  Clement  VIII.  had  declared  it  to  be  impossible 
that  he  should  absolve  Henry  of  Bourbon,  unless 
he  would  prove  the  sincerity  of  his  orthodoxy  by 
causing  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  to  be 
observed  in  his  dominions.  But  by  admitting  a 
written  stipulation  that  this  should  only  be  done  so 
far  as  was  consistent  with  public  tranquillity,  he 
gave  back  with  the  left  hand  what  he  took  with  the 
right,  and  sanctioned  that  toleration  of  heresy, 
which  he  pronounced  to  be  inadmissible. 

The  final  submission  of  Mayenne  (January,  1596) 
was  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  the  dissolution 
of  the  League.  Yet  the  discredit  of  the  Duke  was 
so  great,  and  his  power  had  been  brought  so  low, 
that  the  terms  which  he  obtained  might  well  appear 
extravagantly  favourable.  He  received  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Isle  of  France,  three  fortresses  as  places 
of  surety,  Chalon-sur-Saone,  Seurre  and  Soissons, 
together  with  the  payment  of  all  his  debts.  The 
Parliament  remonstrated  against  such  lenity ;  but 
Mayenne  had  secured  the  intercession  of  Gabrielle 
d'Estrees,  by  promising,  in  the  event  of  the  King's 
death,  to  support  the  claim  of  her  son,  the  infant 


\/ 


-< 


308  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

Duke  of  Vendome,  to  the  Crown.  The  debts  of 
the  Duke  grew  hke  the  hydra's  heads.  Directly 
one  was  paid  two  more  sprang  up  in  its  place,  to 
the  profit  of  the  debtor,  if,  as  was  suspected,  this 
was  the  source  of  his  subsequent  wealth.  Yet  it 
must  be  allowed  that  Mayenne  acted  the  part  of  a 
defeated  and  pardoned  rebel  with  some  dignity  and 
honour.  Unprincipled,  and  unscrupulous  in  his 
ambition,  and  without  those  brilliant  qualities  which 
dazzled  the  mob  in  his  brother  Guise,  he  was, 
nevertheless,  a  man  of  considerable,  though  some- 
what inarticulate  ability.  He  had  played  the  game 
of  conspiracy  and  treason  and  had  lost,  and  was  too 
wise  to  return  to  it,  when  the  chances  of  success  were 
infinitely  less  favourable.  Henceforth,  therefore,  he 
proved  a  loyal  and  useful  subject. 

His  first  interview  with  the  King  took  place  at 
the  country  house  of  the  royal  mistress.  Taking 
him  by  the  arm,  Henry  walked  the  Duke  rapidly  up 
and  down  in  the  garden,  till  Mayenne,  crippled  with 
the  gout  and  of  unwieldy  bulk,  was  almost  at  his 
last  gasp.  "  One  more  turn,"  the  King  said  in  an 
aside  to  Rosny,  "  and  I  shall  have  punished  this  fat 
fellow  for  all  the  trouble  he  has  given  us," — and 
then  aloud  :  "  Confess,  cousin,  that  I  am  going  a 
little  too  fast  for  you." — "  Faith,  Sire,  it  is  true ;  if 
your  Majesty  had  gone  on,  I  think  you  would  have 
killed  me." — "  Shake  hands,  cousin,"  laughed  the 
King,  "  for,  God's  truth,  this  is  all  the  ill  you  need 
ever  fear  from  me,"  and  he  sent  him  back  to  the 
house  to  drink  a  couple  of  bottles  of  a  favourite 
vintage. 


I5d8]  Open   War  with  Spain.  309 

Not  long  after,  Epernon,  who  had  not  published 
his  treaty  with  PhiHp  II.,  and  who  found  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  towns  and  districts  he  held  everywhere 
turning  against  him,  thought  good  to  make  his  peace 
on  terms  not  less  favourable  than  the  other  rebels. 
Henry's  one  aim  was  to  conciliate  his  domestic  V^ 
enemies  in  order  that  he  might  direct  the  united  \ 
strength  of  the  country  against  Spain.  He  was  so 
far  successful  that  in  the  next  year  we  find  May- 
enne,  Epernon  and  Montmorency,  representing  the 
parties  of  the  League,  of  the  Royalists  of  the  time 
of  Henry  III.,  and  of  the  Politicians  fighting  to- 
gether in  the  royal  army  under  the  walls  of  Amiens. 
Yet  it  was  difficult  for  his  faithful  servants,  many  of 
whom  could  not  obtain  payment  of  the  sums  they 
had  spent  in  his  service,  to  see  the  traitors  who  had 
fought  against  him  lavishly  rewarded  and  caressed,, 
without  some  feeling  of  discontent.  These  new 
courtiers  had  not  been  standing  idly  waiting  to  be 
hired  in  the  market-place,  but  busily  employed  sow- 
ing tares,  and  trampling  under'Toot  the  master's 
fields.  And  now,  were  they  to  receive  a  day's  fair 
wage  many  times  over,  while  the  honest  labourers 
who  had  borne  the  toil  and  heat  of  the  day  were 
sent  empty  away  ? 

Although  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that 
the  King  found  the  money  to  keep  his  troops  to- 
gether, the  siege  of  La  Fere  continued.  After  the 
death  of  Francis  D'O,  he  had  placed  his  finances 
under  the  management  of  a  board.  Some  of  the 
members  proved  to  be  wanting  in  experience  and 
vigour,   others   in  honesty  ;    even    Rosny,  who   was 


3IO  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

among  them,  could  effect  nothing  in  the  face  of  the 
lethargy  and  ill-will  of  his  colleagues.  In  the  middle 
of  April  (1596)  the  King  wrote  that  it  went  to  his 
heart  to  see  his  people  so  ground  down.  That  his 
one  wish  was  to  relieve  them  from  so  many  subsidies, 
tallages  and  oppressions.  But  before  anything  could 
be  done,  the  Spaniards  must  be  driven  out  of  the 
country.  The  1,500,000  crowns  of  which  his  treasury 
board  had  cheated  him  during  the  year,  would  have 
sufBced  for  this.  But,  as  it  was,  he  was  close  to  the 
enemy  without  a  horse  that  could  carry  him,  with- 
out a  whole  suit  of  armour:  his  shirts  torn,  his 
doublet  out  at  elbow,  his  larder  empty.  For  two 
days  he  had  been  taking  pot-luck  here  and  there.  It 
is  indeed  probable,  that  but  for  a  most  timely  loan 
from  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  he  would  have 
been  compelled  to  raise  the  siege. 

The  master  of  the  Indies,  the  ruler  of  Mexico  and 
Peru,  was  not  less  poverty-stricken  than  his  antago- 
nist ;  yet,  early  in  1596,  he  had  been  able  by  the  most 
desperate  expedients  to  collect  a  considerable  treas- 
ure. Part  of  this  was  devoted  to  preparing  a  great 
armament  for  the  invasion  of  England  ;  but  part 
also  was  employed  in  supplying  with  a  formidable 
army,  the  new  ruler  of  the  Netherlands,  the  Cardinal- 
Archduke  Albert,  who  was  about  to  exchange  his 
red  hat  for  the  hand  of  his  cousin,  the  Infanta 
Isabella.  Twenty  thousand  men  were  collected  at 
Valenciennes,  and  it  was  generally  thought  that  an 
attempt  would  be  made  to  relieve  La  Fere.  Henry 
hoped  that  the  Archduke  would  fight  a  pitched 
battle.     But   the  movements  of  the  Spaniards  were 


IS98]  Open  War  with  Spain.  3 1  r 

directed  by  a  French  renegade,  De  Rosne,  a  Marshal 
of  Mayenne's  fashion,  and  a  man  of  remarkable  skill 
and  daring,  to  whom  Fuentes  had  owed  the  successes 
of  the  previous  year.  Acting  by  this  man's  advice, 
the  Cardinal-Archduke  sent  detachments  to  make  a 
feint  in  the  direction  of  La  Fere,  and  marched  the 
bulk  of  his  forces  rapidly  on  Calais. 

On  April  14th  the  King  was  startled  to  hear  that 
the  enemy  had  stormed  the  outworks  of  that  town. 
Within  twenty-four  hours  he  was  on  the  march  with 
his  cavalry  and  some  light  infantry.  Bad  new^s  met 
him  on  the  way.  The  Governor  of  Picardy,  the 
Count  of  St.  Pol,  had  been  driven  back  by  a  furious 
storm  when  near  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  with  re- 
inforcements. No  sooner  were  the  walls  of  the  town 
breached,  than  the  inhabitants,  fearing  the  fate  of 
Doullens,  compelled  the  Governor  and  garrison  to 
retire  into  the  citadel.  But  that  also  was  defended 
with  little  perseverance  or  courage.  The  victors 
acquired  a  vast  booty,  in  addition  to  the  possession 
of  a  stronghold  not  less  useful  for  their  designs 
against  England  than  as  a  basis  of  operations  in 
Picardy. 

Queen  Elizabeth  had  once  more  overreached  her- 
self by  trying  to  take  advantage  of  her  neighbours' 
necessities.  The  Spaniards  had  captured  the  port 
which  commanded  the  narrow  seas  almost  in  sight 
of  a  powerful  armament  collected  at  Dover  under 
the  command  of  Essex.  In  a  few  hours  16,000 
English  might  have  been  landed  on  the  French 
coast,  a  force  sufificient  to  have  compelled  the  hasty 
retreat,  or  to  have  secured  the  defeat,  of  the  Arch- 


312  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

duke.  But  the  Queen  asked  for  Calais  as  the  price 
of  her  help.  Henry  IV.  replied  that  he  would 
sooner  see  it  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  from 
whom  he  trusted  shortly  to  recover  it,  than  of  the 
English,  who  had  so  stubbornly  held  it  for  genera- 
tions. When  Elizabeth  relented,  and  the  eagerly 
expected  permission  to  sail  reached  Essex,  it  was 
too  late,  the  Spanish  flag  already  floated  over  the 
citadel. 

Since  he  could  not  save  Calais,  the  King  strength- 
ened the  garrisons  of  the  neighbouring  towns  and 
hastened  back  to  La  Fere,  which  surrendered  on 
May  22d.  The  Spaniards,  meantime,  had  taken 
Ham,  Guines  and  Ardres.  The  gentry  in  the  King's 
service  hurried  home,  according  to  their  custom,  as 
soon  as  the  siege  was  concluded,  and  the  emptiness 
of  the  treasury  made  it  difficult  to  keep  even  the 
mercenaries  together  ;  yet  Henry  contrived  to  march 
towards  the  Archduke  at  the  head  of  an  army  more 
formidable  than  the  Austrian  cared  to  meet.  The 
Spaniards  recrossed  the  frontier  and  sat  down  be- 
fore Hulst,  which  they  took  from  the  Dutch,  at  the 
cost  of  many  men,  much  money  and  a  loss  far  more 
irreparable,  the  life  of  Marshal  de  Rosne. 

The  recent  successes  of  the  Spaniards  raised  the 
hopes  of  those  nobles  who  saw  in  the  weakness  of 
the  monarchy  a  chance  of  enlarging  their  own  privi- 
leges. The  Duke  of  Montpensier,  a  personage  less 
ill-meaning  than  foolish,  was  put  forward  to  suggest 
as  an  excellent  plan  for  keeping  an  army  on  foot, 
that  the  King  should  grant  the  hereditary  possession 
of  their  ofifices  to  all  governors,  whether  of  provinces 


1598]  Open   War  with  Spain.  313 

or  towns,  on  condition  that  they  should  constantly 
keep  a  certain  number  of  men  under  arms  for  his 
service.  Henry  asked  his  cousin,  whether  he  had 
taken  leave  of  his  senses,  but  this  brilliant  suggestion 
was  a  straw  which  showed  clearly  enough  from  what 
quarter  the  wind  was  blowing. 

On  the  other  hand,  Henry  IV,  probably  owed  to 
the  unfavourable  aspect  of  his  affairs,  the  signature 
by  the  Queen  of  England  and  her  clients,  the 
United  Provinces,  of  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  with  France  against  Spain  (May  24th). 
Elizabeth's  friendship  was  ever  warmest  in  his  ad- 
versity. Although  the  assistance  promised  by  the 
allies  for  the  war  in  France  was  meagre,  the  moral 
efTect  of  the  treaty  was  great.  It  committed  the 
Queen  to  open  war  against  Philip  II.  She  could 
not,  after  so  public  an  engagement,  conclude  without 
indelible  infamy  a  separate  peace  at  the  expense  of 
her  allies,  and  exchange,  as  she  had  thought  of  do- 
ing, Flushing  and  Brill  for  Calais. 

It  was  something  to  have  secured  the  open  alli- 
ance of  England  and  of  the  United  Provinces.  But 
if  the  struggle  was  to  be  carried  to  a  speedy  and 
successful  issue,  it  was  not  only  necessary  for  Henry 
IV.  to  obtain  further  resources,  but  also  to  prove  to 
his  enemies  at  home  and  abroad  that  he  commanded 
the  support  of  a  vast  majority  of  the  nation. 

There  were  some  who  advised  the  King  to  con- 
vene the  Estates  and  thus  to  show  that  he  possessed 
the  confidence  of  his  people.  But  the  greater  num- 
ber of  his  councillors  pointed  out  the  opportunity 
that  would   thus   be  given   to  intrigue  and  faction  : 


314  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

the  little  good  effected  by  recent  meetings  of  the 
States-General  ;  the  weary  debates  that  would  ensue 
accompanied  by  unprofitable  complaints  of  evils, 
which  all  must  see  and  deplore,  but  which  could 
hardly  be  remedied  while  a  hostile  army  was  in  the 
land  ;  the  certainty  that  the  necessary  supplies 
would  only  be  voted  after  long  and  perhaps  ruinous 
delay.  Henry,  not  more  disposed  to  share  his  au- 
thority than  other  born  rulers  of  men,  listened  read- 
ily to  advice  which  fell  in  with  his  humour.  Nor 
can  it  be  denied  that  there  was  no  general  wish  in 
France  that  the  Estates  should  meet.  The  country 
was  incHned  to  acquiesce  in  personal  government  by 
the  same  weariness  of  political  strife,  the  same  ma- 
terial exhaustion,  the  same  desire  of  repose,  the 
same  tendency  to  await  reforms  from  above,  which 
led  the  national  representatives,  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  hundred  years'  war,  to  surrender  the  power  of 
the  purse  by  voting  a  permanent  tallage,  and  which 
at  other  periods  have  led  the  French  to  submit  to 
the  usurpations  of  some  "  Saviour  of  society,"  a 
Richelieu  or  a  Napoleon. 

The  last  meetings  of  the  States-General  had 
merely  been  the  preludes  to  civil  war.  The  tradi- 
tions of  constitutional  government  had  been  dis- 
credited by  being  used  as  the  instruments  of  faction. 
The  reforming,  the  constitutional  and  progressive 
party,  so  influential  a  generation  earlier  at  the 
States-General  of  Orleans  and  Pontoise,  had  been 
composed  of  two  kinds  of  men,  the  Huguenots 
and  the  Moderates  or  Politicians.  The  Huguenots 
when  the  hope  of  seeing  their  creed  adopted  as  the 


1598]  Open  War  with  Spain.  315 

national  faith  faded  away,  appear  to  have  laid  aside 
all  wish  -to  introduce  constitutional  reforms ;  the 
Politicians,  weary  of  anarchy  and  of  the  insolence 
of  Spain,  were  willing  to  support  any  government, 
strong  enough  to  establish  order  at  home  and  to 
make  France  respected  abroad.  The  King,  there- 
fore, met  with  general  approval  when  he  had  re- 
course to  a  half  measure,  for  which  precedents  were 
not  wanting,  and  summoned  a  meeting  of  Notables 
for  the  Autumn  (1596). 

The  Notables  met  at  Rouen  (Nov.  4,  1596),  for  an 
epidemic  was  raging  in  Paris.  One  hundred  and 
fifty  nobles,  prelates  and  magistrates  had  been  sum- 
moned, but  on  the  first  day  only  eighty  were  present 
and  these  for  the  most  part  lawyers  and  ofificials. 
The  King  welcomed  them  in  a  characteristic  har- 
angue :  "  If  I  wished  to  gain  the  name  of  orator,  I 
should  have  learnt  some  long  and  eloquent  speech 
and  have  spoken  it  before  you  with  suitable  dignity  ; 
but,  gentlemen,  my  wishes  aspire  to  two  more  glori- 
ous titles,  to  be  hailed  the  Saviour  and  Restorer  of 
this  State.  You  know,  to  your  cost,  as  I  to  mine, 
that  when  God  called  me  to  this  Crown,  I  found 
France  not  only  ruined  but  almost  lost  to  the  French. 
By  the  divine  favour ;  by  the  prayers  and  good 
counsels  of  my  servants  who  do  not  follow  the  pro- 
fession of  arms  ;  by  the  sword  of  my  brave  and  gen- 
erous nobles — among  whom  I  reckon  the  Princes, 
for  the  honour  of  a  gentleman  is  our  best  possession  ; 
by  my  own  toils  and  exertions,  I  have  saved  our 
country  from  annihilation.  Let  me  now  save  it  from 
ruin.     Share   this   second  glory   with  me,  my  dear 


3 1 6  Henry  of  Navarre.  \\b^^ 

subjects,  as  you  shared  in  the  former.  I  have  not, 
like  my  predecessors,  called  you  together  merely  to 
approve  what  I  have  determined.  I  have  summoned 
you  to  take  your  advice,  to  believe  and  to  follow  it. 
In  short  because  I  desire  to  place  myself  under  your 
guardianship,  a  desire  seldom  felt  by  a  King,  a  grey 
beard  and  a  conqueror." 

The  King's  answer  to  some  expression  of  surprise 
from  his  mistress  that  he  should  have  spoken  of 
putting  himself  under  the  tutelage  of  the  Notables, 
has  often  been  repeated,  "  Ventre  St.  Gris,  so  I 
said,  but  I  meant  with  my  sword  by  my  side." 
It  is  not  so  well  known  that  the  draft  of  his  frank 
and  artless  speech,  written  and  elaborately  corrected 
in  his  own  hand,  still  exists  in  the  French  National 
library.  Had  they  known  that  it  was  an  after 
thought  which  made  them  "  Gentlemen  "  and  "  his 
dear  subjects,"  and  that  his  love  for  his  people  was 
not  at  first  extreme,  the  Notables  might  have  dis- 
trusted their  Prince's  flattery.  The  King's  impul- 
sive frankness  was  indeed  not  wholly  false  :  he  often 
said  what  he  really  meant  and  said  it  simply,  but 
this  simplicity  was  the  perfection  of  art.  He  boasts 
of  everything,  and  even  his  frankness  is  the  subject 
of  his  self-commendation.  "  I  am  grey  without, 
golden  within."  "  What  is  on  my  lips  is  in  my 
heart  .  .  .  my  words  are  not  of  two  colours." 
If  we  examine  his  speeches  we  find  in  them  little  ar- 
gument, but  skilful  flattery  and  sometimes  scathing 
denunciation  ;  vague  and  often  repeated  promises 
of  future  benefits;  much  praise  of  himself  and  ener 
getic  exhortation  to  others  to  go  and  do  likewise. 


1598J  Open  War  with  Spain.  3 1 7 

The  Notables  protested  their  devotion  ;  suggested 
some  reforms  ;  and,  quite  unconstitutionally,  voted 
a  duty  of  five  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  all  goods 
brought  for  sale  into  towns,  villages  and  markets. 
This  tax,  called  the  Pancarte,  proved  eminently  un- 
popular, and  was  withdrawn  after  no  long  time. 
The  assembly  was  dismissed  and  the  King  returned 
to  Paris,  where,  for  the  first  time  since  his  accession, 
he  lived  for  a  while  the  life  of  a  pleasure-loving 
Prince,  enjoying  ballets  and  masques,  hunting  parties 
and  sumptuous  feasts.  It  was  noted  as  a  mark  of 
sinful  extravagance,  likely  in  a  time  of  general  want 
and  public  poverty  to  provoke  the  wrath  of  Heaven, 
that  Bon  Chretien  pears  at  a  crown  a  piece,  and 
sturgeons  which  cost  one  hundred  crowns,  were 
served  at  the  christening  feast  of  the  son  of  the 
Constable  Montmorency. 

Yet  more  serious  matters  were  not  neglected. 
Preparations  were  made  to  open  the  campaign  of 
the  next  year  by  the  siege  of  Arras,  and  stores  and 
ammunition  were  collected  at  Amiens.  As  the 
citizens  insisted  that  their  privilege  not  to  receive  a 
garrison  should  be  respected,  they  could  guard  their 
own  walls  with  10,000  armed  men,  the  King  ordered 
the  Count  of  St.  Pol,  the  Governor  of  Picardy,  to 
take  up  his  abode  in  the  town  and  to  watch  over  its 
safety. 

But  Hernantello  de  Portocarrero,  the  Governor  of 
Doullens,  an  officer  as  fertile  of  resource  as  he  was 
prompt  and  bold  in  action,  heard  that  the  train- 
bands of  Amiens  were  not  over-exact  in  performing 
their  military  duties.     Accordingly   a  party  of  his 


3i8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

men  disguised  as  peasants  on  their  way  to  market 
and  driving  a  big  waggon,  appeared  early  one  morn- 
ing at  the  gates.  As  they  passed  under  the  arch  of 
the  portal  the  neck  of  a  sack  filled  with  nuts  came 
undone,  and  while  the  guards  were  scrambling  for 
the  scattered  contents,  some  of  the  pretended 
countrymen  blew  out  their  brains,  or  stabbed  them 
with  their  concealed  weapons,  while  others  cut  the 
traces  of  the  cart  horses,  so  that  the  waggon  was  left 
standing  in  the  way  and  it  was  impossible  either  to 
close  the  gates  or  to  drop  the  portcullis.  Porto- 
carrero  and  his  men  lurking  in  ambush  hard  by 
rushed  up  at  the  sound  of  the  scuffle  and  were  in 
possession  of  the  town  before  the  terrified  citizens 
could  collect  or  offer  any  effective  resistance. 

*'  On  Wednesday,  the  12th  of  this  month  "  (March, 
1597),  writes  the  diarist  L'Estoile,  "  in  the  midst  of 
feasts  and  dances  came  the  news  of  the  surprise  of 
Amiens,  to  the  dismay  of  the  revellers  and  of  Paris. 
Even  the  King,  whose  constancy  and  magnanimity 
are  not  easily  shaken,  seemed  stunned  by  the  blow. 
Yet  looking  to  God,  as  is  his  wont  in  adversity, 
rather  than  in  prosperity,  he  said  aloud  :  '  This  blow 
is  from  Heaven.  These  poor  people  have  lost  them- 
selves by  refusing  the  small  garrison  I  wished  to 
give  them.'  Then,  after  a  moment's  thought, 
'  Enough  of  playing  the  King  of  France ;  it  is  time 
to  be  again  the  King  of  Navarre.'  " 

That  same  day,  Henry  determined  on  the  measures 
to  be  taken  for  the  recovery  of  the  lost  town,  and 
suggested  or  approved  of  expedients  for  raising  the 
money  required  for  a  long  and  difficult  siege.    Before 


1598]  Open  War  tvith  Spain.  319 

nightfall  he  was  on  horseback,  and  on  his  way  to  the 
frontier.  He  sent  Marshal  Biron  to  invest  Amiens 
on  the  north,  to  cut  off  the  communications  of  Por- 
tocarrero  with  Doullens  and  to  prevent  reinforce- 
ments or  supplies  reaching  Amiens  from  the  Low 
Countries.  He  himself  visited  the  towns  on  the 
Somme,  reassured  the  panic-stricken  inhabitants  and 
strengthened  their  garrisons.  Then  he  hurried  back 
to  Paris  to  obtain  the  necessary  means  for  paying 
and  supporting  his  army.  The  Parliament  had  re- 
fused to  register  the  financial  edicts.  The  creation 
of  new  judicial  ofifices  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
money  by  their  sale,  diminished  both  their  emolu- 
ments and  their  dignity.  Among  other  grounds  for 
their  opposition,  they  alleged  that  the  King  wasted 
money  on  his  buildings.  This  Henry  took  much 
amiss;  he  ought  not,  he  complained,  to  be  grudged 
the  little  he  spent  in  this  way.  Building  was  his 
only  consolation  and  pleasure  in  the  midst  of  his 
toils  ;  hunting,  gambling  and  women  were  appar- 
ently not  worth  mention.  Yet  in  addressing  the 
Parliament  he  restrained  his  anger  and  almost 
assumed  the  tone  and  attitude  of  a  suppliant.  He 
had  come  to  beg  alms  from  them  on  behalf  of  those 
who  were  spending  their  lives  and  toiling  day  and 
night  to  secure  the  tranquillity  of  their  countrymen, 
•'I  have  been,"  he  continued,  "on  the  frontier.  I 
have  done  what  I  could  to  keep  the  people  in  good 
heart,  I  have  encouraged  the  country  folk.  I  have 
fortified  their  church  towers.  But  I  must  tell  you, 
gentlemen,  that  I  felt  their  cries  of  '  Vive  le  Roi ' 
like  so  many  stabs  in   my  heart,  knowing  that   I 


X 


320  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

shall  be  compelled  to  abandon  them  on  the  first 
day  "  (of  the  enemy's  invasion).  The  lawyers  were 
obdurate  until  the  King  held  a  "Bed  of  Justice" 
and  commanded  instant  registration.  By  this  means 
and  by  the  zeal  of  Rosny,  into  whose  hands  the 
control  of  the  finances  was  gradually  passing,  some 
2,700,000  crowns  were  raised  and  it  became  possible 
to  press  the  siege  of  Amiens  with  vigour  and  at  the 
same  time  to  check  the  renewed  aggressions  of 
Mercceur  in  Brittany,  and  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  on 
the  Eastern  frontier,  as  well  as  to  guard  against  the 
intrigues  and  plots  reported  from  various  quarters, 
last  writhings  of  the  scotched  snake  of  the  League. 

During  April  and  May  the  energy  and  care  of 
Biron  prevented  the  Spaniards  from  throwing  more 
than  one  reinforcement  of  600  men  into  Amiens  and 
drew  a  double  line  of  entrenchments  round  the  town 
to  the  north  of  the  Somme.  Henry  reached  the 
leaguer  on  June  7th  and  completed  the  investment 
by  extending  his  posts  south  of  the  river,  but  with- 
out protecting  them  by  defensive  works. 

The  King  found  an  army  of  barely  15,000  men, 
which  after  his  arrival  quickly  grew  to  25,000,  the 
gentry  showing  their  usual  zeal  when  there  was  an 
opportunity  of  fighting  under  the  immediate  com- 
mand of  the  King.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  with  diffi- 
culty induced  to  fulfil  her  obligations  under  the 
recent  treaty  and  to  send  2,000  men.  The  rebellion 
in  Ireland,  the  armament  which,  notwithstanding 
the  capture  of  Cadiz  and  of  his  fleet  in  the  previous 
year,  Philip  II.  had  again  equipped  for  the  invasion 
of  England,  were  more  than  mere  pretexts.     But  in 


1598]  Open  War  with  Spain,  3^1 

addition  to  the  Queen's  contingent,  English  volun- 
teers crossed  the  Channel,  or  came  from  Flanders  to 
fight  under  so  popular  a  Prince  against  the  common 
enemy.  Six  thousand  English  and  Dutch  soldiers 
made  up  for  the  absence  of  the  majority  of  the 
French  Protestants,  who,  indignant  that  so  little 
attention  was  paid  to  their  complaints,  and  alarmed 
by  the  King's  reconciliation  with  the  Pope  and  by 
the  concessions  made  to  his  opponents  at  their 
expense,  listened  to  wild  talk  of  rising  in  arms, 
seizing  Tours  and  taking  advantage  of  the  King's 
difficulties  to  compel  attention  to  their  wrongs. 

Although  more  than  once  Henry's  resources  were 
nearly  exhausted,  the  care  of  Rosny  never  allowed 
the  military  chest  to  become  quite  empty  ;  and  since 
the  soldiers  were  paid,  they  could  be  kept  under 
good  discipline.  The  peasantry  of  the  neighbour- 
hood instead  of  being  plundered  and  tortured  were 
able  to  cultivate  their  fields  and  reap  their  harvest 
in  safety,  whilst  they  found  in  the  royal  camp  a 
profitable  market  for  their  produce.  It  was  perhaps 
the  first  time  during  these  wars  that  the  proximity 
of  a  large  army  was  felt  to  be  a  blessing  rather  than 
a  curse. 

Sufficient  accommodation,  a  well-supplied  com- 
missariat, excellent  sanitary  arrangements,  good 
quarters  and  attendance  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
bore  witness  to  the  King's  humane  and  intelligent 
care  for  his  men.  It  was  usual  in  the  sieges  of  this 
period  for  a  quarter  or  even  half  of  the  assailants  to 
perish  from  disease,  privations  and  neglect,  but 
before  Amiens,  notwithstanding  much  hard  fighting, 


32  2  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

the  French  lost  barely  600  men  in  four  months.  The 
Archduke  Albert,  though  fully  alive  to  the  import- 
ance of  holding  Amiens — he  would  sooner,  he  said, 
see  the  enemy  in  possession  of  Ghent  or  Antwerp — 
could  attempt  nothing  to  raise  the  siege  till  he  had 
money.  But  as  the  Spanish  Government  was  en- 
tirely without  credit,  money  was  not  procurable  till 
the  taxes  were  collected  and  the  galleons  had 
arrived  from  the  Indies.  Portocarrero,  though 
unaided,  showed  the  same  enterprise  and  resource 
in  defending  as  in  taking  Amiens,  and  his  death  on 
September  3d  was  an  irreparable  loss  to  the 
besieged. 

It  was  not  till  the  12th  of  the  same  month,  that 
the  Cardinal  Archduke  succeeded  in  assembling  his 
army,  18,000  foot  and  3,000  horse  at  Douai ;  on  the 
14th  the  sound  of  the  guns  he  fired  to  announce  his 
approach,  was  heard  by  the  besieged.  On  the  north 
of  the  Somme,  the  French  lines  were  too  strong  to 
be  attacked,  but  if  the  Spaniards  could  cross  the 
river  and  approach  the  town  from  the  south,  they 
would  either  oblige  the  King  to  fight  a  pitched 
battle  with  only  a  part  of  his  army,  or  to  raise  the 
siege. 

On  the  15th  the  Archduke  attacked  the  village  of 
Longpr^,  which  lay  outside  the  French  lines  and 
commanded  the  nearest  bridge  over  the  Somme. 
Marshal  Biron,  suspected  of  wishing,  like  his  father, 
to  protract  the  war,  was  accused  of  having  left  Long- 
pr^  purposely  unfortified  and  of  having  informed 
the  enemy  that  this  was  the  vulnerable  point  of  the 
French  position,  but  as  the   King  had  personally 


1598]  Open  War  with  Spain.  323 

directed  the  siege  for  three  months,  he  must  share 
the  blame  of  what  was  more  probably  a  careless 
oversight. 

In  the  absence  of  the  King,  who  was  visiting  his 
posts  south  of  the  river,  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  took 
the  command  of  the  French,  sent  the  Swiss  and  all 
the  artillery  he  could  collect  to  Longpre  and  began 
hastily  to  throw  up  entrenchments.  If  the  Spaniards 
had  pressed  resolutely  forward,  Mayenne  with  his 
inferior  forces  would  scarcely  have  been  able  to  pre- 
vent them  from  occupying  the  village  and  crossing 
the  bridge.  But  they  halted  at  the  first  salvo  of 
artillery,  then  fell  back  and  gave  the  Duke  time  to 
strengthen  his  position  and  to  bring  up  more  men. 
By  the  time  that  Henry  returned  to  his  army,  the 
Archduke  had  lost  his  opportunity,  and  began  to 
retreat  after  a  futile  attempt  to  throw  a  division  of 
picked  men  across  the  river.  He  came  on,  Henry 
wrote  to  Elizabeth,  like  a  soldier,  but  fell  back  like 
a  priest.  The  King  would  have  pursued  and 
attacked  the  retreating  enemy,  but  was  restrained 
by  the  caution  or  jealousy  of  his  officers ;  but  the 
effect  of  a  victory  in  the  field  could  scarcely  have 
been  greater  than  that  of  the  precipitate  retreat  of 
the  relieving  army  and  the  consequent  capitulation 
of  Amiens  (September  19th). 

The  recovery  of  Amiens  after  the  futile  attempt 
of  the  Regent  of  the  Netherlands  to  raise  the  siege, 
the  good  order  and  discipline  of  the  French  army, 
the  unshaken  loyalty  of  the  majority  of  the  former 
leaders  of  the  League,  the  unexpected  resources 
obtained  by  the  ingenuity  and  energy  of  Rosny,  did 


324  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

more  than  any  previous  success  to  raise  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  King  and  the  opinion  of  his  power  at 
home  and  abroad.  He  determined  to  make  use  of 
his  superiority  in  arms  and  of  the  discouragement 
of  his  opponents  to  ome  to  terms  with  his  domes- 
tic and  foreign  enemies,  and  to  satisfy,  so  far  as  was 
practicable,  the  demands  of  the  Huguenots,  before 
their  despair  or  the  ambition  of  some  among  their 
leaders  led  to  new  broils  and  complications. 

The  life  of  Philip  H.  was  drawing  to  a  close  in  the 
midst  of  sufferings  so  awful  that  his  enemies  could 
not  but  recognise  in  them  the  divine  chastisement 
of  a  tyrant  and  a  persecutor.  He  had  determined 
that  the  Netherlands  should  be  the  appanage  of  his 
daughter  Isabella,  and  that  she  should  rule  there 
under  the  suzerainty  of  Spain,  jointly  with  her 
cousin  the  Cardinal-Archduke  Albert,  whom  she 
was  to  marry  as  soon  as  the  Pope  had  released  him 
from  his  priestly  vows.  But  the  position  of  the 
new  Governors  of  the  Netherlands  would  be  pre- 
carious if  exposed  to  the  enmity  of  France  as  well  as 
of  England  and  of  the  United  Provinces;  nor  did  he 
wish  to  leave  his  young  and  incapable  successor  on 
the  Spanish  throne  involved  in  the  dangers  of  a  great 
war.  He  therefore  gladly  availed  himself  of  the 
mediation  of  the  Pope  to  open  negotiations  with  the 
man  to  whom  he  had  so  long  denied  any  title  but 
that  of  Prince  of  B^arn. 

Clement  VHI.  had  for  some  time  been  endeavour- 
ing to  bring  about  an  understanding  between  the 
two  great  Catholic  powers  and  to  unite  them  in  an 
attack    upon    England,    the    stronghold    of    heresy. 


1598]  Open  WaT-  with  Spain.  325 

Early  in  1597  he  assured  Cardinal  d'Ossat,  the 
French  ambassador,  that  his  master  was  not  bound 
to  keep  faith  with  heretics,  nor  indeed,  as  a  sover- 
eign, to  observe  any  engagements  injurious  to  the 
interests  of  his  country  :  "  Salus  reipublicae  summa 
lex."  To  these  Machiaveiiian  suggestions  Henry 
IV.  replied  in  a  vein  of  impassioned  honour:  "  I  have 
pledged  my  faith  to  the  Queen  of  England  and  the 
United  Provinces  to  join  my  forces  with  theirs  to 
resist  the  arms  of  the  King  of  Spain.  How  could  I 
then  treat  with  him  to  their  hurt,  or  even  fail  in  a 
single  one  of  those  points  I  have  promised  to  them, 
without  betraying  my  duty,  my  honour  and  my  own 
interests?  No  pretext,  I  think,  could  be  sufficient 
to  excuse  such  baseness  and  perfidy  ;  and  if  it  could, 
sooner  than  avail  myself  of  it  I  would  lose  my  life. 
I  have  always  found  it  better  to  trust  in  God  than 
in  the  strength  and  works  of  men.  Since  His  divine 
justice  is  infallible,  I  can  nevei  believe  that  He  would 
favour  an  act  of  treachery  so  glaring  as  I  should 
commit,  if  I  were  to  desert  my  friends  and  allies  for 
my  own  profit."  Perhaps  when  the  King  sent  this 
despatch,  he  protested  over-much,  perhaps  he  now 
argued,  not  without  show  of  reason,  that  he  had  no 
intention  of  betraying  his  allies  and  turning  his  arms 
against  them,  and  only  contemplated  opening  ne- 
gotiations and  concluding  a  peace  in  which  they 
might,  if  they  pleased,  be  included. 

No  doubt  he  violated  the  express  stipulations  of 
the  treaty  concluded  two  years  before,  by  which  the 
contracting  parties  bound  themselves  to  enter  into 
no  separate  dealings  or  treaty  with  Spain,  yet  the 


326  Henry  of  Navarre.  [159% 

severity  with  which  some  even  among  French  his- 
torians condemn  Henry's  conduct,  appears  excessive. 
When  the  French  envoys  signed  the  treaty  with 
Ehzabeth,  they  assured  their  master,  "  that  no  Prince 
can  be  bound  by  any  treaty  to  do  that  which  may 
endanger  the  safety  of  his  people,"  and  although  he 
himself,  as  we  have  seen,  appears  to  have  repudiated 
this  axiom  of  sixteenth-century  statecraft,  it  was 
recognised  by  the  English  ministry  when,  after 
Henry's  abjuration,  they  pointed  out  that  the  rela- 
tions between  France  and  England  must  henceforth 
be  determined  by  considerations  of  self-interest. 
Elizabeth  herself  certainly  never  acted,  nor  intended 
to  act,  on  any  other  principle.  Again  and  again  she 
had  been  prepared  to  betray  her  allies  and  clients, 
the  Dutch,  if  only  Philip  H.  had  made  it  worth  her 
while.  At  that  very  moment,  so  his  agents  assured 
the  French  King,  she  was  secretly  negotiating  with 
the  Archduke  Albert,  and  would  have  concluded 
peace  on  the  basis  of  an  exchange  of  Flushing  and 
Brill  for  Calais  and  Ardres.  Henry  at  any  rate 
contemplated  no  such  baseness  as  this.  He  gave 
his  plenipotentiaries  the  most  stringent  directions  to 
conclude  no  peace  to  which  his  allies  might  not  have 
the  option  of  acceding.  From  the  first  he  made  no 
attempt  to  conceal  his  intentions  from  them.  Soon 
after  the  recovery  of  Amiens  he  wrote  to  Elizabeth 
"  that  he  knew  it  to  be  more  than  ever  necessary  for 
their  common  safety,  that  they  should  in  all  things 
be  close  friends.  He  himself  would  never  weary  of 
fighting  for  a  cause  so  just  as  theirs;  born  and 
reared  as  he  had  been  in  the  midst  of  the  toils  and 


1598]  Ope7i  War  with  Spain.  327 

dangers  of  war,  where  glory,  the  best  food  of  every 
truly  royal  soul,  is  to  be  gathered  like  a  rose  amid 
thorns.  But  for  all  that,  he  might  well  be  weary  of 
the  evils  and  miseries  inflicted  by  war  on  his  peo- 
ple; since  therefore  the  Spaniards  were  disposed  to 
negotiate,  he  could  not  do  otherwise  than  enter  into 
treaty  with  them." 

The  French  and  Spanish  plenipotentiaries  met  at 
Vervins  in  February ;  the  peace  was  signed  on 
May  2,  1598. 

The  terms  between  the  two  contracting  powers 
were  settled  without  much  difificulty.  Retaining 
Cambray,  the  Spaniards  evacuated  Calais,  the  other 
Picard  towns  and  the  port  of  Blavet  in  Brittany. 
The  French  restored  the  county  of  Charolais.  The 
negotiations  were  somewhat  protracted  by  questions 
concerning  the  allies  on  both  sides.  The  inclusion 
of  Mercoeur  in  the  treaty  was  absolutely  refused  by 
the  French.  On  the  other  hand,  Henry  insisted  that 
the  option  of  acceding  to  the  peace  within  six 
months  should  be  offered  to  his  confederates. 

The  Dutch  refused  to  accept  a  truce  which  the 
Spaniards  were  with  difficulty  persuaded  to  offer, 
and  Henry  IV.  promised  to  continue  to  assist  them 
indirectly  by  the  most  prompt  repayment  possible 
of  the  large  sums  for  which  he  was  their  debtor. 

While  his  ministers  began  to  negotiate  the  peace 
with  Spain,  Henry  left  Paris  for  the  west  to  re- 
ceive the  submission  of  Brittany.  The  departure 
of  the  English,  recalled  by  their  Queen  on  account 
of  the  threatened  Spanish  invasion,  and  of  serious 
troubles  in  Ireland,  together  with  the  discontent  of 


^^, 


328  Henry  of  Navarre.  11595 

the  Huguenots,  had  given  a  respite  to  the  Duke  of 
Mercoeur.  But  the  Bretons,  however  much  attached 
to  their  provincial  independence,  felt  no  hereditary 
loyalty  to  a  Lotharingian  Prince,  and  were  weary  of 
the  civil  war  and  of  the  presence  of  the  Spaniards. 
As  soon  as  the  King's  approach  was  known,  town 
after  town  threw  open  its  gates.  It  seemed  that 
Mercoeur  must  either  submit  himself  a  suppliant  to 
the  King's  discretion,  or  seek  a  refuge  among  his 
Spanish  allies  at  Blavet.  A  little  daughter  of  six 
years  was  the  sole  heiress  of  his  vast  riches  and  wide 
domains,  and  he  offered  her  hand  to  the  four-year- 
old  Caesar  of  Vendome.  After  this  he  and  his 
adherents  were  confirmed  in  all  their  possessions, 
ofifices  and  dignities,  their  zeal  for  the  Catholic  faith 
was  commended  in  the  public  treaty,  and  by  secret 
articles  they  were  promised  additional  gratuities  and 
pensions.  The  King  probably  persuaded  himself 
that  whatever  Mercoeur  gained  would  be  to  the 
ultimate  advantage  of  his  son,  and  that  the  complete 
restoration  of  domestic  peace  could  scarcely  be 
bought  at  too  high  a  price. 

In  forming  our  estimate  of  Henry  IV's  treat- 
ment of  the  Huguenots,  we  have  to  consider  two 
questions :  First,  did  he  unduly  delay  the  satisfac- 
tion of  their  just  claims?  Secondly,  was  the  final 
settlement  fair  and  equitable? 

When  Henry  IV.  succeeded  to  the  throne,  the 
Catholics  feared  that,  if  immediately  victorious,  he 
would  disregard  his  promise  to  respect  and  protect 
the  Roman  Church,  as  the  established  religion  of 
the  State.     The   Protestants,  when  he  abjured  their 


V 


1598]  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  329 

creed,  disbelieved  his  assurance  that  he  would  con- 
tinue their  friend  and  that  if  they  were  attacked  he 
was  prepared  to  die  in  their  defence.  Du  Plessis- 
Mornay,  generally  just  to  the  honesty  of  his  master's 
intentions,  expressed  this  feeling  openly  in  writing 
to  him.  His  conversion,  he  maintained,  must  either 
be  sincere,  or  yielded  to  compulsion.  If  sincere, 
what  have  the  Reformed  Churches  to  hope  from  his 
affection  ?  If  compulsory,  can  he,  who  could  not 
protect  his  own  conscience,  protect  that  of  others? 
And  if  his  conscience  is  enslaved,  is  his  will  likely 
to  remain  free  ?  It  is  a  shorter  step  from  one  wrong  to 
a  greater  than  from  right  to  wrong,  from  idolatry 
to  persecution  than  from  pure  religion  to  idolatry. 

Both  Romanists  and  Reformers  were  unjust  to 
their  King.  He  could  not  fail  to  see  that  while  on 
the  one  hand  the  supremacy  of  Catholicism  was  too 
firmly  established  in  France  to  be  overthrown,  on 
the  other  hand  the  disappointment  and  despair  of 
the  Protestant  minority  would  be  fatal  to  all  possi- 
bility of  a  quiet  reign.  Had  he  felt  no  gratitude  to 
the  men  "  who  had  guarded  his  cradle  and  borne 
him  to  power  on  their  shoulders,"  there  were  two  v  j 
suf^cient  motives  to  determine  him  to  make  the  X 
condition  of  the  Huguenots  as  tolerable  as  possible. 
One  of  these  motives  was  the  wish  to  convince  the 
Protestant  powers  that  he  was  no  enemy  to  their 
religion,  and  that  they  might  trust  him  as  their 
leader  in  that  renewed  struggle  with  the  Austro- 
Spanish  house,  to  which  he  looked  forward ;  the 
other  was  the  fear  that  the  Huguenots  might  place 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  England   or  of 


X 


-+. 


;^T,o  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

the  Elector  Palatine  and  so  once  more  expose 
France  to  the  danger  of  foreign  intervention. 

He  who  believed  that  no  form  of  ecclesiastical 
polity  was  of  divine  institution,  and  who,  while  con- 
vinced that  there  was  much  error  in  the  doctrine  of 
Rome,  suspected  that  his  Calvinist  friends  had  no 
monopoly  of  truth,  was  not  likely  to  hold  the  balance 
unfairly,  when  the  tranquillity  of  his  kingdom  and 
the  success  of  his  policy  demanded  that  he  should 
do  equal  justice  to  the  jarring  sects. 

Nor  do  the  complaints  appear  just  which  were 
constantly  made  by  the  Protestant  assemblies,  re- 
peated by  Aubigne  and  other  Huguenot  writers, 
and  endorsed  by  their  co-religionists  down  to  the 
present  time,  that  the  King  wilfully  delayed  the 
satisfaction  of  the  demands  of  the  Reformed 
Churches,  that  he  granted  their  desire  to  all  other 
factions  and  gorged  his  enemies  with  favours,  be- 
fore he  gave  a  thought  to  his  most  faithful  friends. 
After  he  was  firmly  established  on  the  throne,  he 
required  all  the  authority,  all  the  resources  he  had 
painfully  accumulated  to  impose  the  acceptance  and 
the  observation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  on  the  courts 
of  law,  the  magistrates  and  officials. 

It  was  the  constant  and  well-founded  complaint 
of  the  Protestants  that  the  moderate  concessions 
made  to  them  by  the  treaty  of  1589  and  by  the 
edict  of  1577,  re-enacted  in  1594,  were  rendered 
nugatory  by  the  ill-will  and  disregard  of  the  King's 
authority,  shown  by  the  Parliaments  and  by  the 
Governors  of  towns  and  provinces.  But  if  his 
authority  was  not  suf^cient  to  obtain  for  the  Protes- 


1598]  The  Edict  oj  Nantes.  331 

tants   a   moderate   instalment   of   what   they   might 
justly  claim,  how  would  it  have  been  possible  for      \1 
Henry  to  enforce  the  complete  satisfaction  of  their      A. 
demands  ? 

We  may  fairly  ask  those  who  accuse  Henry  IV.  of 
neglecting  the  interests  of  the  Protestants,  to  point 
out  the  time  previous  to  1598  when  he  could  not 
only  have  promulgated  an  edict  securing  to  them 
equal  rights,  toleration  and  liberty  of  worship,  but 
also  have  enforced  such  a  law. 

Clearly  he  could  not  have  done  so  at  his  accession. 
At  that  anxious  time  the  utmost  Du  Plessis-Mornay 
ventured  to  advise,  was,  that  toleration  should  be 
granted  to  what  might  be  named  the  "  so-called  "  Re- 
formed Church,  under  colour  of  the  old  edicts  set 
aside,  but  not  legally  repealed,  by  the  League  ;  while 
at  the  same  time  the  Huguenots  should  be  warned 
to  behave  with  greater  moderation. 

Nor  in  1591,  after  the  victory  of  Ivry,  does  the 
same  "  Pope  of  the  Huguenots  "  ask  for  more  than 
the  re-enactment  of  the  edict  of  1577  "  under  which, 
France  had  been  prosperous,  all  the  King's  subjects 
satisfied,  .  .  .  the  Catholic  religion  maintained 
in  its  dignity,  the  necessities  of  the  Reformed  re- 
ligion provided  for  ;  by  which  in  short  it  had  seemed 
that  the  question  had  been  so  settled,  that  it  ought 
not  to  have  been  re-opened." 

After  his  conversion  and  the  recovery  of  Paris 
(1594),  Henry  accomplished  the  desire  of  Du  Plessis- 
Mornay,  by  re-enacting  the  edict  of  1577  together 
with  the  clauses  added  to  it  by  the  treaties  of  Nerac 
and  Fleix.     Nay,  more,  since  the  Reformed  Churches 


332  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1596- 

had  lost  their  protector  by  his  abjuration,  and  he 
neither  would  nor  could  allow  a  foreign  prince  or  a 
powerful  and  ambitious  noble  to  succeed  him  in  that 
office,  he  not  only  permitted,  but  even  suggested, 
that  the  Churches  should  organise  themselves  more 
efficiently  for  self-government  and  defence.  The 
Huguenot  community  was  divided  into  ten  prov- 
inces, each  province  elected  an  assembly  composed 
of  an  equal  number  of  nobles,  commoners  and  min- 
isters, and  these  provincial  assemblies  nominated  a 
general  council  composed  of  ten  members — four 
nobles,  four  burgesses  and  two  ministers.  The  ec- 
clesiastical organisation,  the  consistories  and  synods, 
remained  unaltered. 

If  then  the  position  of  the  Reformed  Churches  was 
still  unsatisfactory  and  precarious,  this  was  not  so 
much  owing  to  the  neglect  of  the  King,  or  to  the 
absence  of  legal  guarantees  as  to  the  persistence  of 
their  enemies  and  the  weakness  of  the  central  Gov- 
ernment, which  could  not  control  the  law-courts  and 
officials,  or  punish  the  insubordination  of  the  more 
powerful  nobles.  More  ample  concessions  would 
have  been  valueless,  since  they  would  have  remained 
a  dead  letter. 

The  Huguenots  not  only  complained  that  the 
turbulence  of  their  enemies  and  the  ill-will  of  the 
judges  rendered  the  protection  of  the  law  futile,  but 
also  that  each  treaty  the  King  concluded  with  his 
rebels  contained  clauses  impairing  their  right  to  that 
protection.  The  Catholic  nobles  and  princes  were 
allowed  to  proscribe  dissent  within  their  domains, 
the  towns  stipulated  that  it  should  not  be  tolerated 


1598]  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  333 

within  their  walls.  The  sturdy  importunity  of  the 
Protestant  assemblies  was  not  wholly  displeasing  to 
the  King.  He  writes  to  a  friend,  that  he  wished 
that  it  might  seem  as  if  he  granted  whatever  may  be 
necessary  for  their  welfare,  rather  because  he  cannot 
avoid  doing  so,  than  from  his  love  towards  them. 
Yet  the  Reformers  not  unreasonably  suspected  the 
sincerity  of  the  royal  intentions,  when  they  saw  the 
growing  favour  of  their  old  enemies  ;  the  presence  of 
former  Leaguers  in  the  royal  council ;  the  reconcilia- 
tion of  the  King  and  the  Pope  ;  the  heir  to  the 
throne,  the  young  Prince  of  Conde,  taken  away  from 
his  Protestant  teachers  and  educated  as  a  Catholic ; 
their  own  position  becoming  every  day  more  pre- 
carious. Would  Henry  after  he  had  come  to  terms 
with  or  subdued  all  his  enemies,  when  his  power 
was  firmly  established,  care  to  provoke  new  discon- 
tent and  to  encounter  fresh  trouble  in  order  that  he 
might  provide  for  their  interests? 

When  Amiens  was  surprised  the  Protestant  Parlia- 
ment was  in  session  at  Saumur,  that  strong  fortress 
overhanging  the  Loire,  which  under  the  government 
of  Mornay  was  in  some  sort  the  metropolis  of  the 
Huguenot  Church.  The  King  desired  them  to 
postpone  their  debates  and  to  hasten  to  his  assist- 
ance. Mornay  urged  them  to  obey  the  summons. 
Although  a  few  young  nobles  joined  the  royal  army, 
the  majority  held  aloof.  Yet  the  violent  counsels  of 
some  rash  and  unpatriotic  men  were  rejected  by  the 
influence  of  the  wiser  and  better  part — perhaps  also 
frustrated  by  other  means.  Henry  IV.  afterwards 
complained  that  the  malcontents  had  nearly  ruined 


334  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

everything  by  their  perversity  and  had  only  been 
prevented  doing  so  by  the  traitors  among  them  who 
accepted  his  bribes  or  sought  his  favour.  "  How 
often,"  he  concluded,  "  when  I  saw  you  so  opposed 
to  my  wishes,  have  I  exclaimed  to  myself,  O  that 
my  people  would  have  hearkened  unto  me  !  For  if 
Israel  had  walked  in  my  ways,  I  should  soon  have 
put  down  their  enemies  and  turned  my  hand  against 
their  adversaries." 

To  mitigate  the  impatience  of  the  Protestants, 
commissioners  were  appointed  to  treat  with  them 
touching  the  satisfaction  of  their  demands.  These 
commissioners  were  men  of  known  impartiality  and 
moderation.  The  historian,  De  Thou,  President  of 
the  Parliament  of  Paris,  and  Gaspard  de  Schomberg, 
Count  of  Nanteuil,  a  German  by  birth  but  no  rela- 
tion of  the  Schomberg  whose  death  at  Ivry  has  been 
mentioned,  or  of  that  French  marshal  and  English 
duke  of  the  same  name  who  fell  leading  his  men 
to  victory  across  the  Boyne. 

In  addition  to  the  liberty  of  conscience  and  tolera- 
tion of  their  worship  promised  by  previous  edicts, 
the  Protestants  demanded  :  (i)  that  they  should 
retain — at  any  rate  for  a  considerable  time — their 
places  of  surety ;  (2)  that  no  one  should  be  in- 
capacitated by  his  religion  for  public  office;  (3)  that 
all  cases  in  which  Protestants  were  concerned  should 
be  tried  by  courts  composed  of  judges  of  both 
creeds  {Chambres  vii-partics).  The  negotiations 
continued  during  the  siege  of  Amiens  and  to  the  end 
of  the  year  (1597). 

The    King    did    not    grant    the    demands    of    the 


1598]  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  335 

Protestants  till  he  had  not  only  settled  the  terms  of 
the  peace  with  Spain  and  stamped  out  the  last 
embers  of  the  civil  war,  but  had  also  dispersed  the 
Protestant  levies  which  Mornay  and  De  Thou  had 
vainly  urged  the  Dukes  of  Bouillon  and  Thouars  to 
lead  to  his  assistance  before  Amiens  ;  until,  in  short, 
he  was  suf^ciently  powerful  to  settle  the  question 
on  his  own  terms.  That  he  was  able  to  give  the 
Huguenots  so  much,  is  the  best  proof  that  he  might 
have  compelled  them  to  accept  infinitely  less.  If 
then  the  terms  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  were  fair  and 
equitable  ;  if  in  it  the  principle  *of  religious  tolera- 
tion was  for  the  first  time  distinctly  recognised  and 
practically  applied  in  the  legislation  of  a  great  coun- 
try, it  is  to  Henry  of  Bourbon  that  the  credit  is  due. 
An  American  historian  of  the  Huguenots,  no  lenient 
critic  of  Henry's  policy  and  character,  allows  that  he 
from  the  first  contemplated  some  such  settlement, 
and  that  no  one  probably  was  better  pleased  than 
he  when  that  settlement  could  finally  be  accom- 
plished. We  may  then  conclude  that  it  was  not  the 
fault  of  the  King,  if  the  satisfaction  of  the  claims  of 
the  Protestants  was  delayed  ;  neither  can  it  reason- 
ably be  denied,  that  that  satisfaction  when  made 
was  as  ample  and  complete  as  the  circumstances 
permitted. 

Henry  IV.,  in  the  preamble  to  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
(Apriii5,  1598),  expresses  his  gratitude  to  God  for 
having  inspired  him  with  courage  and  strength  to 
struggle  against  the  fearful  disorders  and  troubles 
which  he  found  at  his  accession.  But  ai!  things 
could   not^be  done   at    once        Therefore    he   had 


^^6  Henry  of  Navarre.  Li 595- 

chosen  to  remedy  first  those  evils  which  could  only 
be  dealt  with  by  force  of  arms;  postponing  other 
reforms  till  these  ci\nl  broils  should  be  ended.  For 
the  fury  of  arms  scarce  allowed  the  establishment 
of  laws.  "  But  now  that  it  has  pleased  God  to 
grant  us  the  enjoyment  of  some  quiet,  we  think  that 
we  cannot  better  use  this  tranquillity,  than  by  en- 
abling all  our  subjects  to  worship  His  Holy  Name; 
and,  if  it  has  not  pleased  him  to  permit,  that  this 
should  as  yet  be  done  in  one  form  of  religion,  by 
providing  that  it  be  at  least  done  with  one  and  the 
same  intention,  and  with  such  order  that  there 
arise  not  hence  any  trouble  or  tumult."  He  has, 
therefore,  determined  to  give  to  his  subjects  on  this 
matter  a  general,  clear,  definite  and  absolute  law  in 
a  perpetual  and  irrevocable  edict,  and  he  prays  the 
Divine  Mercy  to  convince  them  that  the  chief 
security  for  their  union  and  peace,  and  for  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  State  in  its  former  lustre  de- 
pends on  the  faithful  observance  of  this  ordinance. 

It  was  no  doubt  with  the  intention  of  disarming 
opposition  and  allaying  the  alarm  likely  to  be  felt 
by  the  Catholics,  that  the  first  provision  of  the 
edict  was  in  their  favour.  The  King  had  already 
(December  6,  1597)  engaged  to  leave  the  Protestants 
in  possession  of  the  towns  they  occupied  for  eight 
years  and  to  pay  their  garrisons.  The  edict  ensured 
to  the  Catholics  the  free  celebration  of  their  worship 
and  the  undisturbed  possession  of  their  churches  in 
these  towns  as  well  as  in  Beam  and  in  the  domains 
of  the  Huguenot  nobles. 

The  members  of  the  so-called  Reformed  Church 


1598]  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  337 

were  to  have  full  licence  to  settle  wherever  they 
pleased  in  the  kingdom,  without  being  called  upon 
to  do  anything  against  their  conscience.  Protestant 
worship  was  to  be  permitted  in  all  towns  where  it 
had  been  allowed  by  the  edict  of  1577,  or  in  which 
it  had  been  held  in  1596  and  1597,  and  also  in  one 
town  in  each  bailiwick,  or  sc'n^chaiissee,  as  well  as  in 
the  fiefs  of  the  nobles  of  the  religion. 

The  Protestants  were  to  be  freely  received  into, 
and  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of,  all  colleges,  schools 
and  hospitals,  to  be  allowed  to  found  colleges  and 
schools,  and  to  print  religious  books  in  all  towns 
where  their  public  worship  was  sanctioned.  They 
were  to  be  capable  of  holding  all  offices  in  all 
places,  notwithstanding  any  provisions  to  the  con- 
trary in  treaties  made  by  the  King  with  Catholic 
towns  and  princes.  In  all  places,  portions  of  the 
churchyards,  or  cemeteries  of  their  own,  should  be 
assigned  to  them.  No  minors  should  on  any  pre- 
text of  religion  be  removed  from  the  guardianship 
of  their  parents,  whose  provisions  by  will  for  the 
religious  instruction  of  their  children  must  be  re- 
spected and  enforced  by  the  courts. 

The  ministers  of  the  Protestant  Church  were  to 
be  exempted  from  all  obligation  to  military  and 
other  service  inconsistent  with  their  sacred  func- 
tions, and  the  King  undertook  to  contribute  an 
annual  sum  towards  their  support.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  dissidents  were  to  pay  tithe  and  to  respect 
the  holidays  of  the  Church  and  not  to  contract  mar- 
riages within  the  prohibited  degrees. 

A  "  Chamber  of  the  Edict,"  consisting  of  magis- 


338  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

trates  of  approved  moderation,  one  at  least  of  whom 
was  a  Protestant,  was  to  be  established  in  the  Par- 
liament of  Paris,  and  in  those  of  Rouen  and  Rennes, 
to  take  cognisance  of  cases  in  which  Protestants 
were  concerned.  Three  courts,  at  Castres,  Bordeaux 
and  Gap,  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  Roman- 
ist and  Huguenot  judges  {Chambres  mi-parties),  were 
to  exercise  a  similar  jurisdiction  in  southern  France. 
The  political  provincial  councils  of  the  Huguenots 
were  to  be  dissolved,  and  they  were  forbidden  to 
raise  any  common  funds,  or  to  form  any  confedera- 
tion or  league  within  or  without  the  kingdom,  unless 
permitted  by  the  King. 

Such  were  the  most  important  provisions  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  which,  if  it  only  secured  toleration 
to  the  Calvinist  Church,  at  least  placed  its  members 
on  a  footing  of  complete  civil  equality  with  their 
orthodox  countrymen.  But  what  especially  distin- 
guishes this  from  any  previous  edict  favourable  to 
the  new  religion,  is  that  the  King,  who  granted  it, 
was  determined  that  it  should  be  no  dead  letter,  but 
as  strictly  observed  as  any  other  fundamental  law  of 
the  kingdom. 

The  Huguenots  were  not  entirely  satisfied,  al- 
though the  wiser  part  agreed  with  Mornay  that  the 
King  showed  both  wisdom  and  resolution  and  had 
secured  terms  for  them  as  favourable  as  they  could 
reasonably  expect.  The  clergy  and  the  lawyers  vied 
in  the  loudness  of  their  protests  and  in  the  virulence 
of  their  opposition.  For  nearly  a  year  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris  resisted  the  repeated  commands  of  the 
King  that  they  should  register  the  edict.     For  many 


1598]  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  339 

reasons  he  was  unwilling  to  compel  them  to  do  so 
by  the  public  exercise  of  his  sovereign  authority, 
and  instead  of  holding  a  "  Bed  of  Justice,"  he  sum- 
moned the  members  to  attend  him  at  the  Louvre. 
They  found  him  in  his  private  apartments  and  were 
welcomed  by  a  speech,  in  which  an  inflexible  deter- 
mination to  be  obeyed  was  no  way  concealed  by  the 
tone  of  humour  that  tempered  his  reproofs. 

"  Before  speaking  to  you  about  that  for  which  I 
summoned  you,  I  will  tell  you  a  story  of  which  I 
was  just  reminding  the  Marshal  de  la  Chatre.  Soon 
after  the  day  of  St.  Bartholomew,  four  of  us  playing 
at  dice,  saw  drops  of  blood  appear  on  the  table  ;  and 
as  they  reappeared  a  third  time  after  being  twice 
wiped  away,  I  refused  to  continue  the  game,  and 
said  it  was  an  evil  sign  to  those  who  had  been  guilty 
of  so  great  bloodshed.  M.  de  Guise  was  of  the 
party."  Then  after  reminding  his  audience  that 
blood  called  for  blood,  the  King  continued :  "  You 
see  me  in  my  cabinet,  where  I  have  come  to  speak 
to  you,  not  in  royal  robes,  nor  with  sword  and  man- 
tle like  my  predecessors,  nor  like  a  Prince  giving 
audience  to  ambassadors,  but  in  the  guise  of  a  father 
about  to  talk  familiarly  with  his  children  ;  what  I 
want  to  say  is  this,  that  I  pray  you  to  verify  the 
edict  which  I  have  granted  to  those  of  the  Religion. 
What  I  have  done  is  for  the  sake  of  peace.  I  have 
made  peace  abroad  ;  I  wish  to  establish  it  within  my 
kingdom.  You  should  obey  me,  since  I  am  your 
King,  because  of  the  obligations  under  which  my 
subjects  and  especially  you  of  my  Parliament  are  to 
me.     I  restored   some  of  you  to  your  houses  from 


340  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

which  you  were  exiles ;  to  others  I  restored  the 
religion  you  had  lost.  ...  I  know  well  that 
there  are  intrigues  among  you  ;  that  seditious 
preachers  have  been  put  forward.  This  was  the  way 
taken  to  the  barricades  and  which  led  by  degrees  to 
the  assassination  of  the  late  King.  I  shall  be  on  my 
guard  against  all  that.  I  shall  cut  off  the  roots  of 
all  faction  and  of  all  seditious  preaching,  by  causing 
those  to  be  cut  short  by  the  head  who  incite  to 
them.  I  have  overlept  the  walls  of  towns.  I  shall 
easily  leap  over  a  barricade.  Do  not  make  the  Cath- 
olic religion  your  pretext.  I  love  it  more  than  you 
do.  I  am  a  better  Catholic  than  you  ;  I  am  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Church,  which  none  of  you  are  or 
can  be.  You  deceive  yourselves  if  you  think  that 
you  are  the  Pope's  friends.  I  am  more  his  friend 
than  you.  When  I  choose  I  will  have  you  all  de- 
clared heretics  for  not  obeying  me.  .  .  .  Do 
what  you  will  I  shall  know  what  each  of  you  says. 
I  know  everything  that  happens  in  your  houses, 
all  you  do,  all  you  say.  I  keep  a  little  familiar  who 
reveals  these  things  to  me.  .  .  .  Those  who 
desire  to  obstruct  my  edict  wish  for  war.  Very  well. 
I  will  declare  it  to-morrow  against  those  of  the  Re- 
ligion, but  I  will  not  fight — no,  you  shall  all  go  to 
the  war  in  your  robes  and  you  will  be  like  the  pro- 
cessions of  Friars  with  their  muskets  and  frocks  at 
the  time  of  the  League.  I  am  now  King  and  speak 
as  your  King.  I  will  be  obeyed.  It  is  true  that  the 
Judges  are  my  right  arm,  but  if  the  right  arm  is 
gangrened  and  corrupt,  the  left  must  hew  it  off.  .  . 
The  last  word  I  shall  say  to  you  is  just  this  :   Follow 


1598]  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  341 

the  example  of  M.  de  Mayenne.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  induce  liim  to  join  in  some  intrigue  against 
me.  He  replied  that  he,  hke  my  other  subjects,  had 
too  much  cause  to  be  grateful  to  me  ;  and  that  he 
for  one  would  always  risk  his  life  to  do  me  a  service, 
because,  he  added,  I  had  saved  France  in  spite  of 
those  who  sought  to  trouble  her,  while  he  himself 
in  the  past  had  done  what  in  him  lay  to  ruin  the 
Commonwealth.  .  .  .  This  is  what  the  Head  of 
the  League  said.  .  .  .  Grant  to  my  prayers  what 
you  might  have  refused  to  my  threats.  .  .  .  Do 
quickly,  I  pray  you,  what  I  ask,  and  not  for  my  sake 
only,  but  also  for  your  own  and  for  that  of  peace." 
The  deputations  sent  by  the  Parliaments  of  Bor- 
deaux and  Toulouse  to  protest  against  the  too  favour- 
able terms  granted  to  the  heretics,  were  given  not 
less  plainly  to  understand  that  the  King  meant  to  be 
obeyed.  The  magistrates  of  Toulouse  had  excelled 
in  fanaticism  and  faction  and  in  addressing  them 
Henry  assumed  a  tone  of  angry  expostulation.  "  It 
was  strange  that  they  could  not  cast  off  their  per- 
versity. It  was  plain  the  Spaniard  still  stuck  in  their 
belly.  Who  could  believe  that  those  who  have 
risked  life,  goods,  rank  and  position  for  the  defence 
and  preservation  of  the  kingdom  are  to  be  held  un- 
worthy of  honour  and  public  office,  are  to  be  hunted 
and  driven  out  of  the  country  as  traitors,  while  those 
who  have  striven  with  all  their  might  and  main  to 
destroy  this  State  are  to  be  reputed  good  Frenchmen 
capable  and  worthy  of  office  ?  I  am  not  blind,  I  can 
see  clearly  ;  I  choose  that  those  of  the  Religion  shall 
live  in  peace  and  be  capable   of   holding  ofifice,  not 


34^  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

because  they  are  of  the  ReHgion,  but  because  they 
have  served  me  and  the  Crown  of  France  faithfully. 
I  must  insist  upon  being  obeyed.  It  is  time  that  we 
all,  having  had  our  fill  of  war,  should  learn  wisdom 
by  what  we  have  suffered." 

Henry  IV.  proved  his  sincerity  by  continuing  up 
to  the  end  of  his  life  to  watch  over  the  interests  of 
his  former  co-religionists. 

Nothing  had  been  more  strenuously  insisted  upon 
by  the  Catholics  or  more  carefully  provided,  not  only 
by  the  terms  of  the  treaty  between  the  King  and  his 
Capital,  but  also  by  a  provision  in  the  edict  itself, 
than  that  Protestant  worship  should  not  be  publicly 
held  in  Paris  or  within  a  distance  of  five  leagues 
from  the  walls.  Yet  in  1606  the  King,  moved  by 
the  hardships  endured  in  winter  by  the  Huguenots, 
and  especially  by  the  sickness  and  mortality  which 
exposure,  during  a  journey  of  thirty  miles,  caused 
among  the  children,  authorised  them  to  build  a 
"  temple  "  at  Charenton,  barely  five  miles  from  Paris. 
Avast  building  capable  of  holding  14,000  worship- 
pers soon  arose,  although  the  Catholics  protested 
against  the  King's  arbitrary  violation  of  his  own 
edicts  and   engagements. 

The  rays  of  the  royal  favour  fell  perhaps  most 
warmly  on  those  who  did  not  shame  their  master's 
compliance  by  constancy  to  their  creed  ;  yet  during 
the  twelve  years  which  separated  the  promulgation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  from  the  King's  death,  the  Re- 
formers enjoyed  greater  peace  and  prosperity  than 
at  any  other  time  before  1789.  "Our  churches," 
wrote  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  "  enjoy,  by  the  grace  of 


15981  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  343 

God  and  under  the  blessing  of  the  King's  edicts,  a 
condition  they  are  not  disposed  to  change.  The 
Gospel  is  freely  preached,  and  not  without  making 
some  way.  Justice  is  dispensed  to  us,  we  have 
towns  in  which  we  can  take  shelter  from  the  storm. 
If  any  infraction  of  the  law  occurs,  our  complaints 
are  listened  to  and  reparation  is  usually  made.  We 
might  wish  that  in  many  localities  our  places  of  wor- 
ship were  nearer  and  more  convenient,  that  we  had 
a  greater  share  in  the  distribution  of  honours  and 
offices.  .  .  .  But  these  are  things  to  be  desired, 
not  to  be  exacted." 

So  long  as  Henry  lived,  the  law  was  observed,  and 
the  Protestants  had  little  reason  for  complaint ;  nor 
is  it  easy  to  see  how  he  could  have  secured  them 
against  the  evils  to  which  they  were  afterwards  ex- 
posed. After  the  promulgation  of  his  edict,  the 
King  wished  the  national  synod,  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  Calvinist  Church  in  spiritual  mat- 
ters, to  elect  the  two  deputies  who  were  to  attend 
the  court  as  agents  of  the  churches  and  defenders 
of  their  interests,  but  he  eventually  permitted  the 
meeting  for  this  and  other  purposes  of  the  political 
assemblies,  so  that  at  his  death  both  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  temporal  organisation  of  the  Huguenots 
remained  unimpaired,  and  knitted  them  into  a  com- 
pact and  formidable  body.  They  held  seventy-five 
fortresses,  some,  such  as  Saumur,  St.  Jean  d'Angely, 
Embrun,  La  Rochelle,  Nimes,  Montauban,  of  great 
importance,  and  among  these  seventy-five  were  not 
reckoned  the  towns  and  castles  belonging  to  the 
domains  of  the  great  Protestant  nobles. 


344  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1595- 

Yet  the  Huguenots  were  but  a  small  minority  of 
the  nation.  At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century 
there  would  seem  to  have  been  about  800  Protestant 
congregations  ;  these  for  the  most  part  were  confined 
to  Languedoc,  Poitou,  Guienne,  Provence  and  Dau- 
phin^. In  Normandy  there  were  about  sixty 
churches ;  very  few  in  the  remaining  provinces. 
The  Protestants  were  at  the  very  outside  some 
1,250,000  souls — men,  women  and  children,  not 
more  than  a  twelfth,  and  probably  less  than  a 
fifteenth  part  of  the  population  of  France.  It  is 
indeed  true  that  these  were  the  very  flower  of  the 
people  ;  the  most  intelligent  and  industrious  artisans, 
the  most  enterprising  as  well  as  the  most  thrifty  an(/ 
diligent  tradespeople,  the  most  educated  and  public 
spirited  of  the  gentry  and  the  most  enlightenet' 
among  the  members  of  the  learned  profession.  It  i( 
true  also  that  the  democratic  organisation  of  theii 
community,  the  temporal  and  spiritual  affairs  of 
which  were  administered  by  popular  and  represen- 
tative bodies,  taught  them  those  manly  and  self- 
reliant  virtues  which  are  'believed  to  be  the  best 
fruits  of  popular  institutions,  and  gave  them  inter- 
ests extending  beyond  the  narrow  sphere  of  private 
selfishness. 

On  the  other  hand  not  only  were  they  a  minority, 
they  were  also  an  unpopular  minority.  The  odium 
of  the  excesses  committed  by  both  sides  during  the 
civil  wars  fell  upon  them,  just  as  the  French  people 
hated  the  English,  after  the  Hundred  Years'  War, 
for  all  they  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  ruffians  and 
brigands  of   every  nationality.      Even  the  purity  of 


1598]  The  Edict  of  Nantes.  345 

their  morals  made  them  hateful  at  a  time  of  gross 
and  general  licentiousness  ;  who  were  they  that  they 
should  affect  to  be  better  than  other  people?  .  Their 
success  in  trade,  due,  like  that  of  the  Quakers,  as 
much  to  the  help,  which  members  of  their  commu- 
nity were  ready  to  give  to  each  other,  as  to  their 
industry  and  probity,  excited  the  rancorous  envy  of 
their  competitors  among  the  Catholic  middle  classes. 
The  lawyers  disliked  their  independence.  Even 
those  magistrates  who,  in  other  matters,  opposed  the 
Jesuits  and  Rome,  sought  to  prove  their  orthodoxy 
by  denying  justice  whenever  it  was  possible  to  the 
Huguenots.  These  dissenters  with  their  privileges 
were  an  anomaly  which  marred  the  uniformity  of  the 
fair  edifice  of  centralised  government  and  law.  The 
prejudices  and  fanaticism  of  the  populace  were  artful- 
ly aggravated  by  the  professed  enemies  of  the  Reform- 
ers, Jesuits  and  others.  Hence  riots,  which  were  made 
a  pretext  for  inveighing  against  those,  who  suffered 
by  them,  as  a  danger  to  the  public  peace.  Their 
funerals  were  so  constantly  disturbed  by  the  mob, 
that  they  were  obliged  to  bury  their  dead  by  night. 
Therefore  they  were  called  Parpaillots,  night  moths, 
creatures  who  shunned  the  wholesome  daylight. 

When,  therefore,  the  loss  of  their  King  and  pro- 
tector left  the  Protestants  exposed  on  all  sides  to 
the  attacks  of  their  enemies,  the  necessity  of  self- 
preservation  compelled  them  to  draw  even  more 
closely  together,  to  become  to  some  extent  what 
their  enemies  reproached  them  with  being,  imperium 
in  impcrio,  a  separate  community  in  the  State.  If 
the  Government  was  hostile  to  them,  even  if  it  was 


34^  Henry  of  Navarre.  fi598 

neutral,  and  did  not  protect  them  against  their  ad- 
versaries, then  they  must  either  make  shift  to  protect 
themselves  or  seek  protection  elsewhere.  If  they 
attempted  the  first,  they  were  accused  of  arming 
against  their  country,  if  the  second,  they  incurred 
the  charge  of  allowing  themselves  to  be  made  the 
tools  of  the  enemies  of  France.  Yet  during  the 
troubled  regency  of  Mary  de'  Medici,  amid  the  con- 
flict of  selfish  factions  and  contemptible  ambitions, 
although  many  Protestant  nobles,  Bouillons,  Lesdi- 
guieres,  and  even  Chatillons,  were  as  false  to  their 
country  as  to  their  cause,  the  conduct  of  the  Hugue- 
nots as  a  whole  was  marked  by  a  loyalty,  patriotism 
and  forbearance,  which,  had  they  existed  to  the 
same  extent  among  other  classes,  might  have  sparec' 
France  long  years  of  suffering  and  civil  strife. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE   REORGANISATION   OF   THE   MONARCHY. 


1598-161O. 


iFTER  peace  had  been  restored  and  the 
religious  difficulty  compromised,  the 
most  pressing  need  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  to  find  some  escape  from 
the  terrible  financial  embarrassment, 
due  as  much  to  extravagance,  malad- 
ministration and  dishonesty  as  to  thirty-five  years  of 
civil  and  foreign  war.  Henry  IV.  was  fortunate  in 
having  by  his  side  the  right  man  for  the  task,  and 
he  showed  himself  worthy  of  such  good  fortune 
by  giving  to  that  man  full  confidence  and  constant 
support. 

The  merit  of  Rosny  lay,  not  in  the  possession  of 
creative  genius,  but  in  an  exceptional  talent  for  ad- 
ministration and  organisation  ;  in  an  ink?orn  hatred  of 
extravagance  and  disorder.  His  reforms  were  in  no 
sense  revolutionary  ;  and  consisted  for  tl^  most  part 
in  introducing  a  careful  and  orderly  collection  of  the 
revenue  ;  in  abolishing  abuses  not  a  necessary  part 
of  the  e.xisting  system  ;  in    establishing,  wherever  he 

347 


34^  Hmry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

was  able,  a  rigid  economy  ;  in  restoring  and  fostering 
those  sources  of  national  wealth  which  had  been 
choked  or  neglected  during  a  generation  of  mis- 
government  and  anarchy.  He  was  laborious,  clear- 
headed, endowed  with  indomitable  energy.  When 
conscious  of  the  King's  approval  and  support,  his 
unbounded  self-esteem  and  self-confidence  made  him 
as  careless  of  giving  offence  to  the  most  powerful 
noble  as  to  the  humblest  officer  of  the  revenue. 
"  He  treats  all  alike,  worthy  or  unworthy,  good  and 
bad,  deserving  or  undeserving,  great  and  small ;  re- 
ceives, or  rather  scorns,  all  with  the  same  scowling 
face,"  wrote  Casaubon  to  Scaliger.  But  this  chur- 
lish and  disobliging  temper  was  of  real  service  to  the 
State,  when  it  was  necessary  to  disregard  so  many 
vested  interests  in  fraud  and  robbery. 

Rosny  was  one  of  the  committee  of  the  council 
to  whom  the  King  entrusted  the  management  of  the 
finances,  after  the  death  of  Francis  D'O.  His  zeal, 
his  determination  to  inquire  into  everything,  above 
all  his  honesty,  were  insupportable  to  his  colleagues. 
Finding  himself  thwarted  at  every  turn  by  their 
ill-will,  he  withdrew  from  the  board  to  be  sent  back 
with  enlarged  powers  and  promises  of  support.  For 
the  King  was  convinced  of  the  dishonesty  of  his  op- 
ponents and  influenced  in  his  favour  by  Gabrielle 
d'Estrees,  who  had  been  courted  by  Rosny  and  who 
was  eager  to  avenge  on  his  rival  Sancy  the  ridicule 
he  had  thrown  on  her  ambitious  hope  of  sharing  her 
lover's  throne.  Rosny's  energy  supplied  the  money 
which  made  it  possible  to  retake  Amiens  and  re- 
lieved the  King's  most  pressing  needs,  by  compelling 
the  farmers  of  the  taxes  and  other  harpies  to  dis- 


1610]        Reorganisatio7i  of  the  Monarchy.         349 

gorge  some  part  of  their  ill-gotten  gains.  His 
colleagues  on  the  treasury  board  either  yielded  to  his 
ascendancy  or  withdrew. 

Each  year  he  received  increased  marks  of  royal 
confidence  and  favour.  He  was  appointed  Con- 
troller of  the  Canals  and  Rivers  of  France  (1597),  of 
the  Highways  and  Ports — grand  voyer, — and  Grand 
Master  of  the  Ordnance  (1599),  Superintendent  of 
the  King's  Fortifications  and  Buildings  (1602),  Grand 
Master  of  the  Ports  and  Harbours,  Duke  of  Sully 
and  Peer  of  France  (1606).  Although  de  facto 
Minister  of  Finance  from  1597,110  only  received  in 
1 60 1  the  ofificial  title  and  rank — Suri7itendant  des 
Finances.  He  was  also  Governor  of  the  Bastille,  of 
Mantes,  of  Poitou.  He  managed  his  own  exchequer 
not  less  skilfully  than  that  of  the  State,  and,  al- 
though he  kept  the  promise  made  to  his  master  not 
to  seek  to  enrich  himself  by  underhand  means,  his 
income,  200,000  livres,  equalled  that  of  the 
wealthiest  princes,  and  he  had  amassed  valuables 
worth  2,000,000  livres. 

The  state  of  the  French  exchequer,  when  it  was 
taken  in  hand  by  Rosny,  might  well  have  daunted 
the  most  intrepid  financier.  The  public  liabilities 
amounted  to  some  350,000,000  livres,  of  which  one 
third  was  floating  debt.*  The  causes  of  the  financial 
confusion  and  distress  were  many  and  deep-seated. 
The  right  of  levying  some  taxes  had  been  assigned 
as  security  to  the  native  and  foreign  creditors  of  the 
Crown.  These  taxes  had  generally  been  alienated 
at  a  valuation  far  below  their  real  worth.      The  pro- 

*  The  intrinsic  value  of  the  "  livre  '   was  al  this  time  about  2  fr.  50c., 
the  relative  value  perhaps  three  or  four  times  as  great. 


350  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

ceeds,  for  instance,  of  a  tax  which  produced  150,000 
Hvres  were  assigned  to  the  Duke  of  Montmorency 
as  the  equivalent  of  a  pension  of  27,000  livres  ;  the 
difference  represents  the  profit  of  the  pubhcan  who 
farmed  the  tax. 

As  the  creditors  of  the  Government  had  often  to 
wait  long  for  their  money,  priority  of  payment  de- 
pending on  favour  and  bribery,  those  who  had 
dealings  with  the  State  insured  themselves  by  ex- 
orbitant charges  against  the  risk  of  delay  or 
default,  and  often  sold  their  claims  at  a  heavy  dis- 
count to  courtiers  or  placemen,  who  used  their 
influence  or  official  authority  to  obtain  for  themselves 
prompt  and  full  payment. 

The  public  accounts  were  so  ill  kept  and  carelessly 
audited  that  the  Controller  of  the  Exchequer  could 
appropriate  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  sums  which  passed 
through  his  hands  without  fear  of  detection.  At 
the  time  of  the  siege  of  Amiens,  Rosny  knew  that 
of  500,000  crowns  which  he  had  paid  into  the  treasury 
200,000  must  be  remaining,  since  he  had  kept  a 
careful  account  of  the  expenditure  to  which  the 
money  had  been  appropriated  and  could  produce 
the  receipts  given  him  for  his  payments.  Ignorant 
of  this  the  Controller  boldly  asserted  that  the 
balance  in  his  hands  only  amounted  to  90,000 
crowns.  Rosny  produced  documentary  proof  that 
it  must  be  1 10,000  more.  The  Controller  was  com- 
pelled to  disgorge,  but  neither  punished  nor  even 
dismissed  for  his  attempted  fraud. 

The  taxes  were  farmed,  not  to  the  highest  bidder, 
but  as  a  matter  of  favour;    the   members   of    the 


1610]        Reorga7iisatio7i  of  the  Monarchy.         351 

council,  the  King's  favourites,  or  even  the  Minister 
of  Finance  himself  stipulating  for  a  share  in  the 
profits  of  the  publican  or  becoming  his  partner. 
The  Surinte7idant  D'O  had  a  share  in  the  farm  of  the 
salt  tax.  The  Government  paid  exorbitantly  for 
everything,  not  only  because  of  the  uncertainty  of 
payment,  but  also  owing  to  the  dishonesty  of  its 
agents,  who  imitated  the  unjust  steward  in  the  para- 
ble, "  take  thy  pen  and  write  so  much  more,''  but 
unlike  him  did  not  wait  for  a  consideration  till  dis- 
missed. Another  evil  was  the  inordinate  number  of 
ofificials  of  every  kind. 

Nor  among  the  causes  of  public  distress  must  we 
forget  the  ruinous  and  oppressive  nature  of  many  of 
the  taxes,  which  became  the  more  economically  dis- 
astrous as  the  capacity  of  the  country  to  bear  the 
load  of  taxation  diminished.  Commerce  and  manu- 
factures totally  ceased  in  many  districts.  Not  only 
were  all  ways  of  communication  insecure,  but  the 
very  roads  themselves  had  ceased  to  exist.  It  was 
no  uncommon  thing  for  the  inhabitants  of  a  town 
to  be  suffering  the  extremity  of  famine,  while  a  few 
leagues  away  the  crops  were  rotting  in  the  fields  for 
want  of  a  market.  The  population  was  decreasing; 
the  land  was  going  out  of  cultivation,  partly  owing 
to  the  devastation  of  the  country  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  villages  and  towns  by  hostile  armies,  or  by 
bands  of  brigands  and  of  desperate  peasants,  who, 
robbed  of  all  else,  still  found  arms  wherewith  to  rob 
their  neighbours ;  partly  because  of  the  excessive 
tallage,  just  as  in  Egypt,  before  the  English  occupa- 
tion, and  in  other  Eastern  countries,  the  peasantry 


352  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

have  not  unfrequently  abandoned  their  fields  be- 
cause the  land  tax  has  not  left  them  a  share  of  the 
produce  sufificient  to  support  life. 

While  taxation  pressed  more  and  more  heavily  on 
the  poor,  those  who  were  best  able  to  pay  eluded 
their  part  of  the  public  burdens.  This  they  effected 
sometimes  by  claiming  exemption,  either  as  "  noble  " 
because  they  had  borne  arms  in  the  King's  service, 
or  because  they  had  acquired  some  small  oflfice, 
sometimes  by  bribery  and  corruption.  The  e'lus,  who 
determined  the  quota  of  tallage  to  be  paid  by  each 
parish,  were  no  longer  elected  as  their  name  implied, 
but  petty  officials,  for  the  most  part  venal  like  their 
betters.  The  assents  or  assessors,  who  fixed  the 
share  of  each  individual,  were  not  more  incorruptible. 

To  reform,  root  and  branch,  the  evils  and  abuses 
under  which  the  country  was  perishing  would  have 
required  a  treatment  perhaps  more  drastic  than  the 
condition  of  the  commonwealth  permitted,  fevered 
and  exhausted  as  it  was  by  civil  war  and  with 
wounds  still  too  raw  to  be  firmly  handled.  More- 
over, as  we  have  said,  the  temperament  and  talents 
of  Rosny  were  those  rather  of  an  administrator 
than  of  a  reformer.  The  services  which  he  ren- 
dered to  his  country  were  so  opportune  as  to  be  of 
inestimable  value,  yet  what  he  effected  was  very 
simple.  He  introduced  an  orderly  and  business-like 
method  of  keeping  the  public  accounts ;  prevented 
peculation  ;  and  caused  the  taxes  to  be  levied  in  a 
manner  as  economical  to  the  Government,  as  little 
oppressive  to  the  public,  as  was  possible  without  a 
complete  change  in  the  existing  system.      At  the 


1610]        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        353 

same  time,  supported,  or  rather  urged  on,  by  the 
King,  he  did  much  by  the  wise  encouragement  of 
productive  enterprise  to  assist  the  wonderful  recu- 
perative power  which  France  has  always  shown  dur- 
ing her  short  periods  of  respite  from  foreign  war  or 
domestic  disorder. 

Rosny,  grand  voyer  de  France,  was  zealous  in  re- 
pairing and  improving  old  means  of  communication 
and  in  creating  new  ones.  The  roads  were  soon  in 
better  condition  than  at  any  previous  period  since 
the  time  when  they  had  echoed  to  the  tramp  of 
Roman  legions.  Long  avenues  of  trees  were 
planted  to  give  shade  and  coolness  to  the  wayfarers. 
The  navigation  of  the  rivers  was  improved.  A  com- 
prehensive plan  for  uniting  the  Seine,  Loire,  Saone 
and  Meuse,  by  canals,  so  as  to  establish  a  waterway 
connecting  the  Mediterranean,  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
the  Channel  and  the  North  Sea,  was  approved  by 
the  King.  A  canal  was  begun  in  1604  from  the 
Loire  to  the  Loing,  a  tributary  of  the  Seine,  as  a 
first  step  towards  the  realisation  of  this  scheme. 

Internal  trade  was  restored  by  security  and  im- 
proved means  of  communication.  The  abolition  of 
export  duties  on  corn  and  wine  threw  foreign  mar- 
kets open  to  the  agriculturist. 

Sully  well  deserved  the  commendation  of  orthodox 
economists  by  his  clear  perception  of  the  truth  which 
is  the  foundation  of  the  doctrine  of  free  trade.  **As 
there  are  divers  climates,  regions  and  countries,  so  it 
has  pleased  God  to  make  them  suited  to,  and  fertile 
in,  divers  products,  materials,  industries  and  arts 
which  are  not  common  to  other  places,  or  there  at 


354  Henry  of  Navarre.  fi598 

any  rate  not  equally  profitable.  So  that  by  traffic 
and  commerce  in  those  things  in  which  some  coun- 
tries abound,  while  others  are  wanting  in  them,  in- 
tercourse to  their  mutual  profit  may  be  kept  up 
between  nations  however  distant." 

He  saw  that  as  both  parties  to  an  act  of  barter 
must  obtain  something  more  useful  to  them  than 
that  with  which  they  part,  so  no  trade  can  be  carried 
on  between  two  countries  which  is  not  more  or  less 
to  the  advantage  of  both.  He  believed  that  nature 
had  meant  France  to  be  a  pastoral  and  agricultural 
country  ;  that  this  was  the  most  profitable  employ- 
ment of  her  labour  and  capital ;  and  he  objected  to 
the  attempt  to  foster  arts  and  manufactures  arti- 
ficially, both  because  it  might  divert  the  productive 
energies  of  the  countr}'  to  less  profitable  uses,  and 
because  he  believed  that  the  sedentary  and  indoors 
life  of  large  classes  would  be  physically  injurious  to 
the  nation. 

Such  considerations  led  Sully  to  regard  with  little 
favour  his  master's  desire  to  encourage  the  introduc- 
tion of  new  manufactures  and  to  naturalise  the  pro- 
duction of  strange  commodities.  Henry,  on  the 
other  hand,  believed  that  the  ever  increasing  number 
of  the  unemployed  in  the  large  towns  was  a  constant 
danger  to  public  peace.  In  one  single  quarter  of  Paris 
there  were,  in  1596,  7,769  paupers.  He  was  con- 
vinced "  that  the  development  of  manufactures  and 
industries  offered  the  best  security  against  civil  broils 
and  disorders."  The  protectionist  may  perhaps  find 
some  comfort  in  the  success  of  that  part  of  the  King's 
commercial  policy  which  offended  the  precocious 
economic  orthodoxy  of  his  minister. 


1610]       Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        355 

Although  the  silkworm  had  been  long  introduced 
into  France,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  silk  stuffs, 
then  so  largely  used,  was  imported  from  Italy.  So 
also  were  the  brocades  and  the  cloth  of  gold  and 
silver,  to  the  purchase  of  which  a  considerable  part 
of  the  revenue  of  the  upper  classes  was  devoted  at  a 
time  when  a  man  of  fashion  often  wore  the  value  of 
his  estate  upon  his  back.  No  doubt  it  would  have 
been  better  had  the  wealth  thus  wasted  been  used  in 
improving  the  land  of  the  gentry,  and  in  the  employ- 
ment of  productive  labourers  ;  thus  increasing  their 
wages  and  enabling  them  to  create  a  new  market  for 
native  produce,  by  the  purchase  of  those  necessaries 
which  they  were  now  unable  to  procure.  And  this 
Sully  would  have  attempted  to  effect  by  sumptuary 
enactments.  Indeed  the  insolent  luxury  and  taste- 
less profusion  of  the  publicans  and  usurers,  parasites, 
who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  the 
body  politic  to  settle  upon  it  and  to  suck  its  blood, 
their  tarts  flavoured  with  ambergris,  their  hangings 
of  cloth  of  gold  and  fountains  of  costly  perfumes, 
their  studs  and  harems,  might  well  seem  to  deserve 
the  lash  of  the  law.  But  sumptuary  restrictions  have 
rarely  produced  the  intended  result,  and  the  protec- 
tive legislation  by  which  Henry  IV.  fostered  the 
growth  of  manufactures  to  satisfy  the  wants  of 
luxury  and  ostentation  was  so  far  successful  that,  in 
foreign  markets  as  well  as  at  home,  the  silks  of  Lyons 
and  Tours,  the  cloth  of  gold  of  Paris,  the  tapestry 
of  Gobelins,  soon  successfully  competed  with  the  pro- 
duce of  the  towns  of  Italy  and  Flanders.  Thus,  not 
only  was  domestic  luxury  made  the  means  of  finding 
employment  for  the  urban   population,  but    France 


35^  H&my  of  Navarre.  ii598- 

obtained  in  exchange  for  the  produce  of  labour, 
which  would  not  otherwise  have  been  employed, 
foreign  commodities  of  more  general  utility. 

More  useful  manufactures  were  not  neglected. 
Although  fine  cloth  was  still  woven  at  Rouen,  the 
supply  of  coarser  stuffs  was  practically  a  monopoly 
in  the  hands  of  the  English,  who  sold  it  on  their  own 
terms  to  the  French  consumers. 

Henry  IV.  encouraged  the  clothiers  of  Provins 
and  Paris  by  advances  of  money,  by  concessions  and 
privileges,  to  betake  themselves  again  to  their  looms. 
Stringent  regulations  against  fraud  and  careless 
workmanship  protected  the  consumer  and  restored 
the  reputation  of  native  fabrics. 

Sully  was  not  more  anxious  to  encourage  maritime 
than  manufacturing  enterprise.  He  even  opposed  a 
measure  imposing  on  foreign  vessels  when  they  en- 
tered French  ports  the  same  dues  which  were  paid 
by  French  ships  in  the  harbours  of  the  country  to 
which  they  belonged.  He  discouraged  his  master's 
desire  to  compete  with  Spain  and  England  in  the 
colonisation  of  the  New  World, — false,  in  this  as  in 
other  things,  to  the  tradition  of  his  faith, — for,  like 
the  Puritans,  the  Huguenots  had  more  than  once  in- 
stinctively turned  to  the  great  continent  beyond  the 
Western  Ocean.  Fortunately  the  King  was  in  these 
matters  both  wiser  than  his  minister  and  determined 
to  have  his  own  way.  Commercial  treaties  which 
placed  the  countries  on  a  footing  of  equality  were 
concluded  with  Spain  (1604)  and  with  England 
(1606). 

The   Spaniards    were    compelled    to    withdraw   a 


1610]        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        357 

differential  duty  of  30  per  cent,  levied  on  all  goods 
coming  from  France,  which,  by  provoking  a  like 
taxation  of  Spanish  imports  into  France,  had  caused 
all  trade  between  the  two  countries  to  pass  into  the 
hands  of  foreigners.  The  good  effects  of  the  King's 
policy  were  soon  felt.  The  export  trade  of  raw 
produce — corn,  cattle  and  wine — as  well  as  of  manu- 
factured goods  vastly  increased.  Nowhere  more  so 
than  in  the  Mediterranean.  The  traditional  friend- 
ship between  the  Most  Christian  King  and  the 
Sublime  Porte  gave  the  French  merchants  great 
advantages  in  the  Levant. 

The  Venetian  ambassador  describes  Marseilles  as 
the  emporium  of  Europe,  and  the  successful  rival  of 
his  own  town.  Three  hundred  ships  of  large  ton- 
nage lay  in  her  land-locked  harbour.  The  annual 
profits  of  her  merchants  were  believed  to  amount  to 
a  sum  equivalent  to  over  ^^7,000,000 — no  doubt  a 
gross  exaggeration. 

No  sooner  was  Henry  IV.  in  peaceable  possession 
of  the  throne,  than  he  sent  a  Breton  gentleman  as 
his  Lieutenant-Governor  to  "  New  France,"  as  all 
America  between  latitude  40°  and  52°  was  then 
called.  The  Lieutenant-General  and  his  intending 
colonists  were  wrecked,  and  it  was  not  till  1604  that 
a  serious  and  successful  attempt  to  found  a  colony 
in  the  New  World  was  made  by  a  company  of 
merchants  and  gentlemen,  to  whom  the  King  granted 
a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade.  De  Monts,  the  chair- 
man of  the  company,  Vice-Admiral  and  Lieutenant- 
General  of  the  King,  left  Havre  accompanied  by 
Champlain,  a  gentleman   of  Saintongc,  and   in   1605 


358  Henry  of  Navarre.  ri598 

occupied  the  peninsula  of  Acadia.  In  1608  Cham- 
plain  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  not  till  after 
the  King's  death  that  he  discovered  the  vast  inland 
seas,  the  sources  of  that  mighty  river  which  bears 
the  largest  ships  to  the  foot  of  the  precipitous  rock 
on  which,  four  hundred  miles  from  the  ocean,  he 
founded  Quebec,  the  future  capital  of  Canada  ;  yet 
the  credit  of  having  initiated  the  most  successful 
attempt  hitherto  made,  to  find  a  home  for  the 
French  race  beyond  the  limits  of  old  Gaul,  belongs 
to  Henry  IV. 

Sully  and  his  master  were  heartily  at  one  in  pro- 
moting all  plans  for  encouraging  and  improving 
agriculture.  The  King,  says  Scaliger,  was  capable 
of  everything  except  keeping  his  gravity,  or  reading 
a  book  ;  yet  he  at  least  turned  over  the  leaves  of 
the  treatise  on  husbandry,  written  by  Olivier  de 
Serres,  whom  Arthur  Young  styles  the  Father  of 
French  Agriculture.  Every  day  for  the  greater  part 
of  a  year  the  book  was  brought  to  him  after  dinner, 
and  he  studied  it  for  half  an  hour  with  apparent 
interest.  Engineers  were  brought  from  the  Low 
Countries  to  drain  the  marshes.  The  reckless  de- 
struction and  waste  of  the  forests  was  checked  and 
new  timber  planted. 

In  1598  Rosny  travelled  through  the  country,  in- 
quiring into  the  condition  of  the  people,  their 
sufferings  and  most  pressing  wants.  The  result  was 
that  in  1600  an  important  ordinance  was  published. 
By  this  all  arrears  of  tallage  due  for  years  prior  to 
1597  were  remitted,  and  the  amount  annually  pay- 
able reduced  by  about  1,800,000  livres.     Any  fraud 


1610]        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        359 

or  partiality  in  the  assessment  of  the  tallage  was  to 
be  henceforth  severely  punished,  and  any  taxpayer 
was  enabled  to  bring  corrupt  or  unfair  assessors  to 
justice  by  a  summary  and  inexpensive  procedure. 
An  earlier  edict  had  annulled  all  exemptions  from 
taxation  granted  during  the  last  twenty  years.  It 
was  now  enacted  that  the  mere  fact  of  serving  in  the 
King's  army  did  not  constitute  a  claim  to  exemp- 
tion ;  that  none  not  born  of  noble  parents  in  legiti- 
mate wedlock  should  presume  to  style  themselves 
esquire  or  noble. 

The  salt  tax  or  gabelle  was  even  more  vexatious 
and  oppressive  than  the  tallage.  It  combined  every 
one  of  those  characteristics  which,  according  to 
Adam  Smith,  are  the  mark  of  a  bad  tax.  It  was 
arbitrary,  inconvenient,  unequal,  costly  to  levy  and 
more  profitable  to  those  who  farmed  it  than  to  the 
royal  exchequer. 

Sully  would  have  liked  to  make  the  sale  of  salt  a 
Government  monopoly  throughout  the  kingdom — 
leaving  every  individual  free  to  buy  as  much  or  as 
little  as  he  chose.  But  this  would  have  injured  too 
many  interests — and  every  "  interest  "  can  bring 
pressure  to  bear  on  an  administration  except  the 
general  interest  of  the  community.  He  was  there- 
fore obliged  to  content  himself  with  remedying  the 
abuses  of  the  existing  system.  Above  all  he  warned 
the  royal  officers  not  to  punish  the  poor  too  severely 
if  they  evaded  taking  their  full  quota,  or  even  for 
having  smuggled  salt  in  their  possession.  To  sel) 
and  to  buy  contraband  goods  were,  he  pointed  out, 
offences  of  very  different  gravity.      He  reminded  the 


360  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

magistrates  that  in  judging  between  the  publicans, 
who  farmed  the  revenue,  and  the  taxpayers,  they 
must  not  imagine  that  the  interests  of  the  former 
were  the  same  as'  those  of  the  State.  They  should 
recollect  that  it  was  the  King  whom  they  injured 
when  they  ruined  his  poor  subjects  by  grievous  fines 
and  penalties. 

Much  was  gained  by  checking  the  extortions  of 
the  tax-gatherers  and  by  compelling  all  who  were 
liable  to  contribute  their  fair  share  of  taxation,  while 
a  few  years  of  peace,  order  and  decent  government 
so  restored  the  vigour  of  the  commonwealth  that  it 
could  have  borne  with  comparative  ease  a  burden  as 
heavy  as  that  which  before  had  crushed  it  to  the 
ground.  But  thanks  to  the  skilful  management  of 
Rosny  the  load  to  be  endured  was  actually  lighter. 

He  began  his  reforms  by  introducing  some  order 
into  the  system  of  accounts.  He  assigned  certain 
sources  of  revenue  to  defray  the  necessary  expendi- 
ture, and  devoted  whatever  remained  over  to  meet 
the  charges  of  the  public  debt..  Undeterred  by  re- 
spect for  persons  he  vigorously  attacked  the  dishonest 
practices  of  the  financiers,  publicans  and  tax-gath- 
erers, who  cheated  the  exchequer  and  oppressed  the. 
people. 

A  "  Chainbre  Royale''  composed  of  magistrates  of 
high  position  and  character  was  appointed.  Sully 
hoped  that  this  court  would  punish  these  harpies 
and  confiscate  the  ill-gotten  wealth  which  enabled 
them  to  set  the  fashion  and  ruin  the  nobility  who 
attempted  to  vie  with  them  in  ostentatious  profusion. 
But,  so  the   minister  laments   in  his   memoirs,  the 


16101        Reorganisation  of  the  Mo?iarcky.        361 

bolder  brigands  escaped  by  bribery  and  intrigues, 
the  lesser  fry,  "  petty  pickers  and  pilferers,"  paid  for 
their  own  misdeeds  and  for  those  of  the  stouter 
thieves.  The  King  himself  was  loath  to  deal  hardly 
with  men  in  whose  houses  he  could  throw  aside 
restraint  and  ceremonial  and  find  the  most  costly 
instruments  of  luxurious  and  too  often  vicious  indul- 
gence eagerly  offered  by  hosts  who  were  proud  to 
be  the  submissive  ministers  of  his  pleasures. 

Yet  if  the  past  could  not  be  amended,  the  future 
might  be  improved.  Henceforth  the  farm  of  the 
various  taxes  was  put  up  to  public  auction  and  al- 
lotted to  the  highest  bidder,  instead  of  being  sold  as 
a  matter  of  favour  at  a  low  price.  In  this  way  and 
by  redeeming  those  taxes  which  had  been  assigned 
as  security  for  their  interest  to  public  creditors 
1,800,000  livres  were  annually  saved. 
4  The  abolition  of  numerous  useless  ofifices  and 
sinecures,  although  a  breach  of  public  faith,  since 
these  had,  for  the  most  part,  been  bought  with  ready 
money,  was  a  measure  which  both  benefited  the 
revenue  and  relieved  the  public  from  the  vexatious 
interference  of  men  who  sought  to  obtain  an  equiva- 
lent for  what  they  had  paid  by  extortion,  or  by  the 
pleasure  of  indulging  in  the  insolence  of  ofifice. 

The  custom  of  entrusting  important  public  func- 
tions to  those  who  could  pay  for  the  privilege  of 
exercising  them  had  long  prevailed  in  France.  The 
sale  of  judicial  offices  had  survived  the  protests  of 
generations  of  reformers  and  the  promises  of  succes- 
sive kings.  The  judges  had  acquired  a  prescriptive 
right  to  sell  that  which  they  had  bought,  and  to  re- 


362  Henry  of  Navarre.  11598 

sign  their  office  in  favour  of  a  son  or  other  competent 
person,  provided  that  they  survived  the  transaction 
for  forty  days.  If  they  died  before  this  period 
elapsed  or  before  resignation,  the  patronage  lapsed 
to  the  Crown. 

Sully  proposed  that  the  hereditary  tenure  of  their 
offices  should  be  granted  to  all  functionaries  of  the 
courts  of  law  and  exchequer,  on  condition  of  the 
annual  payment  of  a  sixtieth  part  of  their  estimated 
revenue.  The  treasury  by  this  gained  each  year  a 
large  sum,  and  any  system,  even  a  bad  one,  was  better 
than  the  previous  confusion.  The  judges  themselves 
were  at  first  highly  averse  to  an  arrangement  which 
touched  their  pockets  and  appeared  to  impair  their 
dignity,  for  this  yearly  payment  was  likened  to  a 
tallage. 

The  measure  had  wider  consequences  than  were 
foreseen,  either  by  those  who  promoted  or  opposed 
it.  Not  only  were  the  magistrates  relieved  from  the 
necessity  of  courting  the  favour  of  princes  and  no- 
bles, they  were  also  made  less  dependent  on  the 
Crown  itself.  The  dignified  integrity  and  impar- 
tiality of  the  French  judges  during  the  following 
century  contrasts  very  favourably  with  the  servility 
of  the  English  Bench  to  the  Stuart  kings.  In  theory 
nothing  could  be  more  difficult  to  justify  than  that 
functions  which  require  high  intellectual  and  moral 
qualifications  should  first  be  sold  to  the  highest  bid- 
der and  then  be  transmitted  by  the  accident  of 
birth.  But,  as  is  often  the  case,  what  is  indefensible 
in  theory  worked  well  enough  in  practice.  There 
seems  to  exist  in  certain   offices  a  traditional  spirit 


1610'        ReorganisatioTi  of  the  Mo7iarchy.        363 

which  shapes  the  character  and  conduct  of  those 
who  hold  them,  and  such  an  influence  is  naturally 
intensified  if  those  offices  are  hereditary.  The  high- 
est places  in  the  French  magistracy  were  already  to 
a  great  extent  held  by  the  members  of  a  few  fami- 
lies, closely  connected  by  descent  and  marriage  ;  and 
these  families  were  for  the  most  part  raised  by  re- 
finement of  life  and  culture,  by  decency  and  gravity 
of  manners  above  the  roystering  swashbucklers  and 
frivolous  nobles  who  affected  to  despise  them.  The 
keen  sense  of  professional  honour,  the  learning,  the 
integrity  which  became  hereditary  in  such  families 
as  those  of  De  Thou  and  Arnauld,  of  Seguier  and 
Harlay  and  Mole,  not  only  supplied  the  Bench  with 
independent  and  capable  magistrates  but  gave  to 
the  noblesse  de  robe  a  consideration  and  an  influence 
which  made  it  an  equipoise  to  the  feudal  nobility. 

It  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of  this  book  to 
attempt  more  than  briefly  to  indicate  some  of  the 
most  salient  points  of  Sully's  administration.  A  few 
figures  may  best  enable  us  to  appreciate  his  success. 

In  1598  the  public  debt  amounted  to  about 
348,500,000  livres — the  revenue  to  about  30,000,000. 
Before  1609  he  had  liquidated  over  100,000,000 
livres  of  debt ;  reduced  the  yearly  interest  on  what 
remained  by  some  5,000,000;  redeemed  no  small 
part  of  the  alienated  royal  domain;  collected  a  treas- 
ure of  20,000,000  livres  ;  and  raised  the  revenue  to 
39,000,000,  while  reducing  the  tallage  by  about 
2,000,000.  And  he  obtained  this  result  while  amply 
providing  for  the  requirements  of  the  public  services 
and  for  the  personal  expenditure  of  the  King. 


364  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598 

-i  Not  only,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were  roads  and 
canals  constructed,  harbours  and  bridges  restored, 
the  navigation  of  rivers  improved,  marshes  drained 
and  all  useful  enterprises  encouraged  by  subsidies 
and  bounties,  but  the  army  also  was  reorganised, 
the  arsenals  filled  with  military  supplies  and  with  an 
artillery  more  powerful  and  better  equipped  than 
any  which  had  as  yet  been  seen.  In  the  short  war 
of  1600  against  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  the  army  was 
accompanied  by  a  field  train  of  40  guns,  each  requir- 
ing 47  horses :  a  battery  which  excited  the  marvel  of 
contemporaries. 

^  The  fortresses  were  put  into  thorough  repair  and 
strengthened  under  the  direction  of  a  Lotharingian 
engineer,  Errard,  as  great  a  master  in  his  art  as  the 
better  known  Vauban.  He  introduced  the  use  of 
the  glacis  and  perfected  the  system  of  angular  forti- 
fications, with  a  double  line  of  defence.  First  the 
ramparts  with  their  cavaliers  and  bastions  protected 
by  a  wide  ditch,  the  soil  excavated  from  which  was 
used  for  the  glacis,  then  an  outer  ring  of  redoubts, 
ravelins  and  trenches. 

The  strength  of  the  French  armies  had  hitherto 
consisted  in  a  numerous  and  valiant  but  ill-disci- 
plined cavalry,  composed  almost  entirely  of  the 
feudal  levies,  whom  it  was  not  easy  to  collect,  still 
more  dif^cult  to  prevent  from  disbanding  if  the 
campaign  was  protracted  or  unsuccessful,  and  impos- 
sible to  keep  together  after  victory.  The  infantry 
consisted  mainly  of  foreign  mercenaries,  well  armed 
indeed  and  well  drilled,  but  not  over  trustworthy, 
addicted  to   plunder,  costly  to   maintain   and  muti- 


1610J        Reorganisatio7i  of  the  Monarchy.        365 

nous  when  their  pay  was  in  arrear.  In  short  the 
French  army  was  partly  feudal,  partly  foreign,  a 
grievous  burden  to  the  country,  yet  wanting  the  co- 
hesion and  discipline  necessary  to  make  it  an  efificient 
instrument  of  scientific  strategy.  Men  fought,  it 
was  said,  in  France,  but  war  was  only  waged  in  the 
Low  Countries.  To  lead  his  nobles  in  a  dashing 
cavalry  charge  had  been  Henry's  glory  ;  yet  his  first 
care  was  the  reorganisation  of  the  French  infantry. 
By  treating  this  as  the  most  important  part  of  his 
army,  he  changed  the  character  of  that  army.  It 
had  been  feudal  and  mercenary,  it  became  popular 
and  national.  This  policy  accorded  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  party  he  had  once  led.  Coligny  and  his 
brother  Andelot,  successively  Colonels-General  of 
the  French  foot,  had  attempted  to  improve  the 
organisation  and  to  raise  the  importance  of  that  arm. 
Large  sums  were  spent  on  buildings  of  public 
utility  and  on  the  improvement  of  the  towns,  espe- 
cially of  Paris.  Under  the  Valois,  Paris  appeared  a 
mean  and  dirty  town  to  travellers  acquainted  with 
the  cheerful  magnificence  of  Italian  cities,  although 
it  contained  some  fine  buildings,  such  as  the  reli- 
gious houses  in  their  vast  enclosures,  and  the 
"  hotels  "  built  in  the  style  of  the  French  Renais- 
sance, by  great  nobles  or  wealthy  financiers.  Four 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants  lived  in  narrow, 
crooked  and  filthy  lanes,  ill  paved,  and  of  course  un- 
drained.  The  stories  of  the  lofty  houses,  built  of 
lath  and  plaster,  projected  on  each  side  till  they 
almost  met  and  excluded  light  and  air  from  above, 
while  booths  and  sheds  encroached  on  the   narrow 


366  Henry  of  Navarre.  '1598 

space  below.  In  the  summer,  carpenters,  cart- 
wrights,  workers  in  brass,  dealers  in  every  kind  of 
commodity  plied 'their  trades  in  the  streets,  while 
the  wares  of  tanners,  dyers  and  cleaners  flapped  in 
the  fetid  air,  frightening  the  horses  and  threatening 
ruin  to  the  finery  of  the  courtier  or  country 
gentleman  threading  his  way  from  his  lodgings  to 
attend  the  King's  levee  at  the  Louvre.  As 
in  the  East,  a  crowd  of  half-starved  dogs  disputed 
the  possession  of  the  offal  in  the  gutters  with  kites 
and  crows.  At  night,  bravos  and  cut-purses  plied 
their  trades,  parties  of  young  courtiers  and  nobles 
rose  from  a  debauch  to  charge  each  other  or  the 
watch,  to  insult  the  women  and  beat  the  unoffending 
citizens.  It  was  in  vain  that  directly  an  alarm  was 
raised  all  citizens  were  commanded  to  ring  a  bell  and 
to  rush  out  into  the  street  lantern  in  hand  to  join  in 
the  hue  and  cry  ;  and  that,  to  make  the  escape  more 
difificult,  houses  were  not  allow^ed  to  have  a  back 
door.  It  was  a  rare  exception  for  offenders  against 
the  public  peace  to  be  brought  to  justice. 

The  bridges  across  the  Seine  were  either  of  wood 
or  encumbered  by  houses  like  old  London  Bridge  or 
the  Florentine  Ponte  Vecchio.  The  river  was  only 
partially  confined  by  quays,  which  made  it  the  more 
apt  to  overflow  in  other  places,  and  frequent  floods 
added  to  the  squalid  discomfort  of  the  lower  parts 
of  the  town. 

Had  he  lived  longer  Henry  IV.  would  have  created 
a  new  Paris  ;  as  it  was  he  did  more  than  any  previous 
king  to  improve  and  change  the  aspect  of  his  Capital. 
The  citizens  were   forbidden  to   encroach    upon    or 


16101        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        367 

obstruct  the  streets,  many  of  which  were  widened 
and  rna<lc  more  regular.  Henceforth  no  houses 
were  to  be  built  with  overhanging  stories.  The 
pavement  was  improved,  and  although  the  habit  of 
emptying  noisome  water  from  the  windows  of  the 
upper  stories  into  the  streets  continued  till  this  cen- 
tury to  expose  those  who  passed  by  to  the  danger 
of  a  foul  shower-bath,  attempts  were  made  to  pre- 
vent accumulations  of  filth  and  refuse  in  streets  and 
public  places.  Numerous  fountains  supplied  abun- 
dant and  tolerably  pure  water.  For  the  mis-called 
sanitary  arrangements  of  modern  times  did  not  as 
yet  pollute  springs  and  river. 

Since  the  death  of  Henry  11.  the  old  Palace  of 
the  Tournelles  surrounded  by  spacious  gardens  had 
been  abandoned  to  decay.  On  this  site  Henry  laid 
out  the  Place  Royal  surrounded  by  excellent  stone 
houses,  built  partly  by  himself,  partly  by  individuals 
to  whom  the  land  was  sold  at  a  nominal  price  on 
condition  of  their  following  the  plans  of  the  royal 
architects.  His  letters-patent  declare  that  he  in- 
tended the  wide  open  space  not  only  to  be  used  for 
tournaments  and  other  martial  exercises  but  more 
especially  to  be  a  recreation  ground  for  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  crowded  suburb  of  St.  Antoine. 

Quays  were  erected  to  raise  the  banks  of  the  river 
and  to  prevent  floods.  The  Pont  Neuf  was  completed 
and  connected  the  Place  Dauphine,  the  centre  of 
the  trade  of  Paris,  with  the  Rue  Dauphine,  which 
extended  in  a  straight  line,  and  with  a  breadth  of 
thirty-six  feet  from  the  riverside  to  the  Porte  de 
Bussy. 


368  Henry  of  Navarre.  11598 

Although  Henry  did  all  this  and  a  great  deal 
more  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  the  greater  part 
of  8,000,000  livres  spent  on  building  was  devoted  to 
increasing  the  magnificence  and  convenience  of  his 
own  palaces.  In  the  Capital  he  built  the  long 
gallery  of  the  Louvre  and  began  the  other  construc- 
tions which  were  intended  to  unite  that  palace  to 
the  Tuileries,  and  which  were  finally  completed  by 
Napoleon  III.  He  doubled  by  his  additions  the 
size  of  the  palace  built  by  Francis  I.  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  his  favourite  residence  owing  to  the  good 
sport  afforded  by  the  neighbouring  forest. 

At  St.  Germains  a  magnificent  pile  was  erected  on 
the  site  of  the  present  terrace  ;  from  the  windows 
of  which  the  King  could  look  over  terraced  gardens 
sloping  to  the  river,  and  ornamented  in  the  Italian 
style  with  grottoes  and  statues,  upon  the  fairest 
prospect  in  the  valley  of  the  Seine. 

Henry  IV.  was  more  successful  in  improving  the 
material  aspect  of  his  Capital  than  in  establishing  an 
efficient  police  or  in  checking  the  general  violence  of 
manners.  The  diarist  L'Estoile  records  that  in  one 
month  of  the  year  1606  nineteen  murders  were  com- 
mitted with  perfect  immunity  in  the  streets  of  Paris. 
He  and  other  contemporary  writers  frequently  com- 
plain that  life  and  property  were  safer  in  a  forest 
glade  than  in  the  Capital.  '  Thieves  found  their  way 
into  the  houses  of  citizens,  and,  holding  a  dagger  at 
their  throats,  compelled  them  to  surrender  their 
money  and  valuables.  A  President  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, a  steward  of  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  and  other 
men  of  position  were  thus  robbed.     The  vulgar  bul- 


{610]        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        369 

lies  who  elbowed  peaceable  wayfarers  into  the  kennel 
and  broiled  with  each  other  at  every  corner,  did  but 
imitate  the  manners  of  their  betters. 

The  practice  of  duelling,  so  fashionable  under  the 
later  Valois,  became  a  deadly  epidemic  when  the 
cessation  of  the  war  deprived  the  gentry  of  the 
opportunity  of  vying  in  valour  and  of  indulging 
their  taste  for  violence  in  legitimate  warfare.  In 
twenty  years  of  Henry's  reign  (i 589-1609)  over 
7,000  pardons  were  granted  to  gentlemen  who  had 
killed  their  adversaries  in  "  affairs  of  honour."  In 
1602  a  royal  edict  threatened  all  who  sent  or  ac- 
cepted a  challenge,  or  acted  as  seconds  in  a  duel, 
with  the  penalty  of  death.  But  this  attempt  to 
check  the  evil  proved  utterly  futile.  Death  was  too 
severe  a  punishment  to  be  inflicted  for  an  offence 
which  the  public  generally  and  the  King  himself  re- 
garded as  venial. 

J.  A.  De  Thou  tells  how  at  the  table  of  the  Prince 
of  Conde,  the  conversation  once  turned  upon  duel- 
ling. Some  of  those  present  defended  the  practice, 
whereupon  the  Prince  "  with  an  air  of  authority 
becoming  his  rank "  condemned  it  as  absolutely 
repugnant  to  God's  law.  It  was,  he  added,  a  sin  to 
draw  the  sword  except  by  order  of  the  sovereign, 
and  for  the  defence  of  life  and  country.  Yet  he  had 
himself  challenged  and  fought  with  the  Duke  of 
Bouillon,  a  fact  recorded  by  the  latter  in  his  memoirs 
with  much  complacency,  although  in  the  same 
breath  he  warns  his  sons  to  be  meek  and  gentle,  and 
careful  of  giving  offence.  The  King  could  not  per- 
haps seriously  condemn  a  custom  all  but  unanimously 


370  Henry  of  Navarre.  ii598- 

approved  by  those  with  whom  he  lived  and  which 
was  so  consonant  to  his  own  character.  Yet  he 
might  deplore  an  indulgence  in  this  privilege  of 
gentle  birth — for  so  it  was  esteemed — so  excessive, 
that  France  lost  every  year  many  hundred  brave 
men.  The  judges  and  those  who  by  birth  and  edu- 
cation were  led  to  regard  the  laws  of  God  and  man 
as  of  not  less  obligation  than  a  conventional  code  of 
honour,  were  urgent  that  the  King's  solemn  edict 
should  not  be  allowed  to  remain  a  dead  letter.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1609,  "^  ^^^^  ordinance  was  promulgated, 
which,  as  it  was  less  severe  than  that  of  1602,  might 
have  proved  more  efficacious,  had  not  the  murder 
of  the  King  in  the  following  year  paralysed  all 
authority. 

It  would  be  absurd  to  blame  Henry  IV.  for  not 
having  created  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  during 
twelve  years  of  peace  indeed,  but  of  peace  disturbed 
by  intrigues  and  cabals,  by  the  plots  of  foreign  and 
domestic  enemies.  Yet  it  is  noticeable  that  histo- 
rians have  generally  exaggerated  the  well-being  of  the 
people  during  the  last  years  of  his  reign.  So  far 
was  the  proverbial  fowl  from  being  in  every  pot,  that 
there  were  still  many  parts  of  France  where  the 
lower  classes  scarcely  knew  what  it  was  to  have  a 
full  meal,  and  yet  more  where  the  standard  of  living 
was  so  low  that  a  short  harvest  was  followed  by 
famine.  But  none  the  less  the  greatness,  the 
astounding  greatness,  of  the  results  achieved  during 
so  short  a  period  by  the  King's  efforts  to  restore 
material  order  and  prosperity  to  his  kingdom  cannot 
be  disputed. 


1610]       Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        371 

Henry  IV.  had  an  unfeigned  desire  to  improve 
the  condition  of  his  subjects.  He  beheved  their 
interest  and  his  own  to  be  the  same.  "  He  who  in- 
jures my  people,"  he  said,  "  injures  me."  He  had 
also  a  true  sympathy  with  the  sufferings  of  the  poor 
and  humble,  and  he  took  some  pains  to  discover 
what  they  were  and  how  they  might  be  relieved. 

When  travelling  through  the  country  he  would 
constantly  stop  to  speak  with  those  whom  he  met 
on  the  road,  asking  them  whence  they  came  and 
whither,  the  nature  and  price  of  the  wares  they  car- 
ried, the  profits  of  their  trade  and  other  details  of 
their  daily  life.  Other  princes,  he  said,  think  scorn 
to  know  the  value  of  a  ducat ;  I  would  know  the 
exact  worth  of  a  farthing,  what  it  buys,  by  what 
labour  it  is  earned.  When  separated  from  his 
attendants  in  hunting  or  by  any  other  chance,  he 
would  ask  the  hospitality  of  the  nearest  peasant  or 
sit  down  with  the  drinking  boors  in  some  country 
inn,  freely  bandying  talk  and  jest  with  those  he  met. 
He  constantly  vexed  Sully  by  the  demands  he  made 
on  the  treasury  to  satisfy  his  mistresses  and  to  pay 
his  gambling  debts,  yet  it  pricked  his  conscience  that 
this  self-indulgence  should  add  to  the  load  of  taxation 
which  made  life  harder  to  the  poor.  He  tried  to  cheat 
his  remorse  by  insisting  that  the  1,200,000  crowns  he 
annually  spent  should  be  drawn  from  that  part  of  the 
revenue  which  was  not  derived  from  the  tallage. 

The  popular  conception  of  the  Bearnese,  that  he 
was  untiring  in  love  and  war  and  that  he  wished 
every  peasant  to  have  a  fowl  in  his  Sunday  pot,  is, 
so  far  as  it  goes,  not  untrue. 


372  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

M.  Poirson,  the  last  and  most  laborious  French 
historian  of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  has  been  at 
pains  to  show  that  his  hero  was  not  less  industrious 
and  successful  in  promoting  the  intellectual  and 
moral  than  the  material  well-being  of  his  people. 
But  an  impartial  student  can  scarcely  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  his  efforts  in  these  directions  both 
obtained  and  deserved  far  less  success. 

The  studies  of  the  University  of  Paris  were  pe- 
formed.  The  task  was  entrusted  to  a  commission 
of  which  such  men  as  De  Thou  and  Harlay  were 
members  and  was  therefore  not  ill  performed.  The 
study  of  the  best  classical  authorities  replaced  that 
of  the  hand-books  and  compendiums  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Perhaps  in  part,  the  obscurantists  owed  their 
defeat  to  the  fact  that  they  had  been  the  inveterate 
political  enemies  of  the  King.  The  prince  of  six- 
teenth century  scholarship,  the  "  phoenix  of  learning," 
Joseph  Scaliger,  had  been  permitted  or  rather  en- 
couraged by  Henry  IV.  to  leave  France  and  settle 
at  Leyden,  but  the  scarcely  less  erudite  Casaubon 
was  summoned  from  Montpellier  to  Paris.  Casau- 
bon's  gentle  disposition,  his  moderation  and  the 
pressure  of  a  rapidly  growing  family  encouraged 
Du  Perron  and  others  about  the  King  to  hope  that 
he  might  be  persuaded  to  conform.  The  proud  in- 
dependence of  the  descendant  of  the  lords  of  Ve- 
rona— or  as  his  enemies  called  it  his  extravagant 
self-conceit — was  known  to  be  intractable. 

The  care  of  the  public  library,  formed  by  uniting 
the  books  of  Francis  I.  and  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
was  entrusted  to  Casaubon  and  attempts  were  made 


16101        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.        2)']'^ 

to  induce  Hugo  Grotius  and  Justus  Lipsius  to  re- 
store by  the  lustre  of  their  names  the  supremacy  of 
European  learning  to  the  University  of  Paris..  New 
endowments  encouraged  the  study  of  anatomy  and 
other  kindred  subjects,  which  were  recommended  by 
their  practical  utility  to  the  King's  philistine  com- 
mon-sense. The  Huguenots  in  the  midst  of  a  strug- 
gle for  life  or  death  found  means  and  leisure  to 
establish  schools  and  colleges.  The  children  of  even 
the  poorest  of  the  Religion  had  the  opportunity  of 
a  decent  education.  But  although  Queen  Jane  of 
Navarre  had  specially  distinguished  herself  by  her 
zeal  in  providing  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  her 
hereditary  dominions,  her  son  made  no  attempt  to 
raise  the  intellectual  condition  of  the  mass  of  his 
subjects.  Even  the  reform  of  the  University  of 
Paris  may  have  been  due  rather  to  a  wish  to  intro- 
duce into  that  body  a  more  loyal  and  less  fanatical 
spirit,  than  to  any  true  sympathy  with  erudition  and 
culture. 

Henry's  former  tutor,  Florent  Chrestien,  wrote  to 
Scaliger  that  though  the  Princes  of  France  excel  all 
others  in  war  and  deeds  of  arms,  learning  must  look 
elsewhere  for  patronage  and  encouragement. 

The  last  Valois  kings  had  shown  a  real  interest 
in  learning  and  culture  ;  Henry  IV.  was  a  soldier,  a 
sportsman,  a  practical  statesman — but  incapable  of, 
any  sedentary  occupation.  Even  his  business  was 
generally  transacted  walking  up  and  down  in  his 
gardens  or  in  the  galleries  of  his  palaces,  or  between 
the  burnished  rows  of  cannon  in  the  Arsenal.  The 
grandson    of    Margaret  of   Angouleme  had  literary 


374  Henry  of  Navarre.  ii598- 


instincts,  ff)r  in  their  way  his  letters  are  models  of 
style,  but  he  had  none  of  the  tastes  of  a  scholar  and 
no  sympathy  w  itii  scholarship.  Classical  studies 
were  therefore  not  fashionable  at  his  Court.  During 
the  previous  reigns  it  was  not  only  grave  ambassa- 
dors like  Paul  de  Foix,  who  carried  with  them  a 
travelling  library  which  was  unpacked  for  their  use 
and  that  of  their  attendants  at  each  resting-place, 
men  of  pleasure  like  Bussy  d'Amboise  affected  even 
if  they  did  not  possess  a  taste  for  reading,  and  pro- 
fessional soldiers  like  the  gallant  Givry  and  St.  Luc, 
who  was  killed  while  commanding  the  artillery  dur- 
ing the  siege  of  Amiens,  were  serious  students  of 
antiquity.  Among  the  Huguenots  the  best  learn- 
ing of  the  age  was  even  more  widely  diffused  ;  Du 
Plessis-Mornay  and  La  Noue  were  but  perfected 
types  of  the  accomplished  Protestant  gentlemen. 
Great  nobles  like  La  Rochefoucauld,  Count  of 
Roucy,  were  proud  of  their  skill  in  writing  Latin 
verses.  After  the  accession  of  Henry  IV.  there  is  a 
great  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  fashionable  world 
to  letters.  The  younger  Biron,  when  some  discus- 
sion arose  on  an  antiquarian  question,  showed  by 
his  remarks  that  he  possessed  considerable  classical 
knowledge,  but  he  did  so  as  if  ashamed,  and  fearful 
lest  he  should  seem  to  know  more  than  was  consist- 
ent with  the  character  of  a  soldier  and  a  man  of 
fashion  ;  a  generation  earlier  he  would  have  ostenta- 
tiously paraded  his  knowledge.  Lesdiguieres,  per- 
haps the  most  able  of  Henry's  generals,  had  been 
trained  to  the  law  and  was  a  fair  scholar,  but  he  was 
sneered  at   by  some,  as  if  learning  and  valour  were 


1610]        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.         375 

incompatible.  A  scarcely  less  significant  symptom 
of  the  change  in  feeling  was  the  King's  boast,  that 
he  could  transact  the  most  difificult  business  with 
the  help  of  his  Chancellor  who  knew  no  Latin  and 
of  his  Constable  who  could  barely  read  or  write. 

The  King,  who  wished  to  decorate  his  new  palaces 
with  statues  and  frescoes,  was  a  more  liberal  patron 
of  sculptors  and  painters  than  of  scholars.  He  paid 
pensions  to  promising  students  whom  he  sent  to 
pursue  their  studies  at  Rome,  directing  his  ambas- 
sador to  watch  over  them  with  the  care  of  a  father. 
Some  came  back  imitators  at  second  or  third  hand 
of  the  Caracci ;  others  learnt  to  combine  the  exag- 
gerated action  and  defective  composition  of  John  of 
Bologna  with  the  affectation  and  want  of  dignity 
which  had  begun  to  be  the  besetting  faults  of  French 
sculpture. 

France  was  exhausted  by  half  a  century  of  civil 
discord  in  which  both  parties  had  seen  their  hopes 
cheated  and  had  come  to  suspect  that  the  ideals  they 
had  cherished  were  unattainable.  The  nation  was 
absorbed  in  the  effort  to  repair  the  ruins  of  the 
material  fabric  of  society,  and  had  little  energy  to 
spare  for  artistic  and  literary  creation.  The  poet, 
says  the  Roman  Satirist,  who  is  to  sing  of  the  loftiest 
themes  must  be  free  from  the  sordid  cares  of  daily 
life.  Disappointed  aspirations,  weariness  of  past 
struggles,  fear  of  future  disorders,  inspired  even  the 
better  citizens  with  a  preference  for  all  that  appeared 
practical,  approved  of  by  sound  common-sense, 
orderly  and  well  established,  with  a  distrust  of  every- 
thing that   was   vague,   unsubstantial   and    Utopian. 


"^"jd  Henry  of  Navarre.  ri598- 

In  the  many  this  temper  produced  an  eagerness  to 
enjoy  common  and  material  pleasures. 

When  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  writing  for  the 
edification  of  his  children,  contrasts  the  corruption 
around  him  with  that  virtuous  Court  of  Catherine 
de'  Medici,  in  which  his  boyhood  had  been  trained, 
we  smile  to  see  the  former  lover  of  Margaret  of 
Valois  praising  past  times  and  affecting  in  his  old 
age  to  inculcate  austerity  of  morals.  Yet  there  is 
abundant  evidence  that  under  Henry  IV.  the  French 
Court  was  no  school  of  virtue ;  and  that  preachers 
and  moralists  complained  not  without  reason  that 
the  sensuality  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes  had 
never  been  so  gross  and  unrestrained.  The  Court 
of  the  Valois  had  excelled  in  perverse  and  morbid 
depravity,  but  the  restoration  of  public  tranquillity 
under  Henry  IV.  appears  to  have  been  followed  by 
a  widespread  indulgence  in  coarse  vice,  and  selfish 
profusion  which  can  scarcely  be  paralleled,  except 
possibly  by  what  was  afterwards  seen  at  Paris  under 
somewhat  similar  conditions  during  the  Directory. 
The  disappointed  renunciation  of  ideal  aims,  ab- 
sorption in  material  cares,  eager  pursuit  of  animal 
pleasures,  whether  they  be  sought  in  the  innocent 
gratifications  of  a  respectable  citizen,  meat  and  drink, 
a  warm  roof  and  a  comfortable  bed,  or  in  the  more 
guilty  satisfaction  of  sensual  lusts,  are  scarcely  com- 
patible with  literary  or  artistic  excellence.  Yet, 
although  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  produced  no  writer 
of  the  first  rank,  it  was  a  most  important  period,  a 
period  of  transition  in  the  history  of  French  literii- 
ture.     During  the  Civil  Wars  and  the  years  of  apathy 


1610]        Reorganisation  of  the  Monarchy.         377 

which  followed,  the  old  school,  the  school  in  poetry 
of  Marot,  of  Ronsard  and  the  Pleiad,  in  prose  of 
Rabelais  and  Amyot,  of  Montaigne  and  Aubign^ 
passed  gradually  away.  Men  of  such  second-rate 
ability  as  Malherbe  and  Balzac  v/ould  not  have  been 
able  to  decide  the  form  assumed  by  the  master- 
pieces of  the  next  generation,  had  not  circumstances 
inclined  the  taste  of  the  times  to  prefer  smoothness 
to  vigour,  a  carefully  chosen  to  a  copious  vocabulary, 
logical  lucidity  and  correctness  to  variety  of  con- 
struction, to  a  picturesque  and  pregnant  sententious- 
ness  varied  by  carefully  constructed  sentences  of 
classical  prolixity,  which  arrest  the  attention  of  the 
reader,  even  though  they  may  sometimes  strain  his 
patience. 

But  our  space  forbids  the  attempt  to  sketch  even 
in  outline  the  history  of  French  literature  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV.  Nor  would  it  be  a  profitable 
task  to  enumerate  names,  even  with  the  addition  of 
a  jejune  criticism,  unsupported  by  copious  quota- 
tions. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   DIVORCE   AND   SECOND    MARRIAGE   OF 
THE  KING. 

1598 — 1601. 


I  HE  country  was  at  peace  and  her 
wounds  were  slowly  healing.  But 
the  continuance  of  tranquillity,  .the 
enjoyment  of  what  had  already 
been  secured,  the  realisation  of 
future  hopes,  everything  depended 
on  the  King's  life.  What  if  the  King  had  succumbed 
to  an  illness,  which  was  believed  to  have  endangered 
his  life  in  1598,  or  if  one  of  the  numerous  plots  to 
aS'sassinate  him  in  that  and  the  following  years  had 
been  successful  ?  The  heir  to  the  throne,  the  Prince  of 
Cond^,  was  a  boy  of  feeble  constitution  and  character, 
his  birth  discredited  by  rumours  based,  it  would 
seem,  on  better  evidence  than  is  usually  the  case  with 
such  scandals.  Even  if  his  claim  to  the  throne  were 
not  challenged,  to  whom  would  the  Regency  be  en- 
trusted ?  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  private  birth, 
defamed  as  an  adulteress  and  who  would  have  been 
publicly  tried  as  an  accomplice  in  the  murder  of  her 

378 


Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         379 

husband,  had  she  not  purchased  impunity  by  aban- 
doning her  reHgion.  All  therefore  who  cared 
anything  for  the  welfare  of  France  were  anxious  to 
see  Henry  the  father  of   legitimate  children. 

To  this  there  were  two  obstacles.  In  the  first 
place,  he  already  had  a  wife,  but  one  who  could 
never  be  the  mother  of  his  children,  and  secondly, 
as  years  went  by,  Gabrielle  d'Estrees'  influence  over 
him  was  confirmed  by  long  habit,  and  his  passion 
for  her  became  more  fervent.  She  had  reformed 
that  levity  of  conduct,  which  during  the  earlier  part 
of  their  connection  excited  the  reproaches  of  the 
King  and  gave  a  handle  to  her  enemies.  Her  lover 
treated  her  with  the  consideration  due  to  a  lawful 
wife,  and  expected  others  to  show  her  the  like 
respect.  He  created  her  Duchess  of  Beaufort.  He 
legitimised  her  children.  Their  baptism  was  cele- 
brated with  all  the  ceremonies  and  pomp  reserved 
for  the  "  Children  of  France."  When  absent,  he 
wrote  to  her  daily,  and  if  he  was  not  always  faith- 
ful he  at  least  paid  her  the  compliment  of  simulating 
constancy  ;  decent  hypocrisy  contrasting  favourably 
with  the  cynical  effrontery  which  afterwards  imposed 
an  odious  promiscuity  on  his  lawful  wife. 

Meantime  Queen  Margaret  had  been  living  since 
1587  in  the  castle  of  Usson  in  Auvergne.  When, 
after  her  quarrel  with  Henry  HI.,  her  position  had 
become  not  less  unpleasant  at  Nerac  or  Pau  than  at 
Paris,  she  took  refuge  at  Agen,  a  town  which  formed 
part  of  her  dower.  The  people  of  Agen  rose  against 
her,  and,  trying  to  make  her  way  to  Ivoy,  a  castle 
belonging  to  her  mother  Catherine,  she  was  seized 


380  Henry  of  Navarre.  tl598- 

by  Canaillac,  Governor  of  Usson,  who  had  been 
ordered  by  Henry  III.  to  confine  her  in  that  castle, 
fortified  as  a  State  prison  by  Lewis  XI.  But  al- 
though Canaillac  had  passed  the  middle  stage  of 
life,  was  heavy  in  bulk  and  sedate  in  disposition,  he 
could  not  resist  the  fascinations  of  his  captive,  and 
the  prisoner  became  the  mistress  of  the  fortress  as 
well  as  of  its  Governor.  Yet,  whatever  her  position, 
so  long  as  she  remained  in  a  remote  valley  among 
the  mountains  of  Auvergne,  Margaret  could  do  little 
harm,  and  the  contemptuous  toleration  of  her  hus- 
band allowed  her  to  live  on  unmolested  at  Usson  ; 
"  a  hermitage,"  so  she  said,  "  miraculously  provided 
to  serve  her  as  an  ark  of  safety."  There  she  found 
solace  for  her  isolation  in  books  and  music,  as  well 
as  in  the  pleasures  of  the  table  and  vulgar  gallantry  : 
for  Margaret  combined  in  a  remarkable  degree  the 
coarse  sensuality  and  intellectual  refinement  char- 
acteristic of  the  House  of  Valois,  and  to  some 
extent  also  of  her  Florentine  ancestors. 

Du  Plessis-Mornay  appears  to  have  been  the  first 
of  Henry's  advisers  earnestly  to  press  upon  him  the 
duty  of  providing  for  an  undisputed  succession 
(1591),  urging  him  to  marry  again  and  to  cease  im- 
perilling body,  soul  and  honour  in  licentious  intrigues. 
*'  Why  then,"  said  the  King,  "  don't  you  find  me  a 
wife?"  "There  is  a  double  diflficulty,"  replied 
Mornay,  "  you  have  to  be  first  unmarried ;  but  I 
will  see  what  can  be  done."  Whereupon  he  went  to 
the  legal  adviser  employed  by  Queen  Margaret  to 
defend  her  interests  at  Court,  and  assured  himi  that 
the  King  had  made  up  his  mind.  He  had  many  and 


MARGARET  OF  VALOIS. 


1601]         Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         381 

grave  reasons  which  would  justify  him  in  treating 
his  wife  with  severity.  It  would,  therefore,  be  to 
the  Queen's  interest  and  honour  that  she  should 
herself  ask  for  a  divorce,  to  relieve  her  conscience 
and  for  the  good  of  the  kingdom,  on  the  ground 
that  she  had  been  married  without  her  consent, 
within  the  prohibited  degrees  and  without  the  papal 
dispensation.  Margaret,  weary  of  Usson  and  of  a 
retirement  which  did  not  protect  her  from  the  im- 
portunity of  her  creditors,  consented,  and  wrote  a 
graceful  and  grateful  letter  to  Mornay,  thanking  him 
for  his  good  service  and  advice.  But  for  several 
years  matters  made  little  progress.  The  Queen  was 
very  willing  to  agree  to  a  divorce  on  the  liberal 
terms  proposed  by  her  husband,  the  payment  of  her 
debts,  an  abundant  revenue,  permission  to  live  in 
Paris  with  the  title  and  precedence  of  Queen  of 
Navarre  and  Duchess  of  Valois.  She  wrote  arain 
and  again  to  Mornay,  urging  him  to  press  on  the 
business,  and  sought  to  stimulate  his  zeal  by  a 
present  of  14,000  livres.  But  to  establish  the  valid- 
ity of  a  subsequent  marriage  beyond  dispute  it  was 
necessary  that  the  divorce  should  be  pronounced  by 
a  competent  and  generally  recognised  tribunal,  and 
as  yet  the  Roman  Curia  was  hostile  and  not  likely  to 
strain  a  point  to  oblige  the  King  of  France. 

Henry  himself,  up  to  1594,  was  anxious  for  a 
divorce  and  to  find  another  wife.  Then  his  interest 
flagged,  till  he  again  took  the  matter  up  warmly  in 
1598,  urging  his  agents  at  the  Roman  Court  to 
press  for  the  Papal  sentence  annulling  his  marriage. 
We  may  conjecture  that  his  affection  for  Gabrielle 


382  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

d'Estrees  was  sufficiently  strong  after  the  first  two 
or  three  years  of  their  union  to  render  the  idea  of 
marrying  any  one  else  distasteful,  but  that  it  was 
not  till  1598  that  it  could  outweigh  the  obvious 
objections  to  making  her  his  wife  and  Queen  of 
France.  Unseemly  in  itself,  such  a  match  would 
have  failed  to  secure  that  undisputed  succession, 
which  was  the  chief  advantage  desired  by  those  who 
begged  the  King  to  take  to  himself  another  bride. 
The  jarring  claims  of  those  children  of  Henry  and 
Gabrielle,  who  were  born  out  of- wedlock,  and  of  the 
legitimate  offspring  of  a  subsequent  marriage  would 
only  have  added  another  element  of  discord  to  those 
already  existing. 

The  Duchess  of  Beaufort  had  endeavoured  to 
secure  future  support  by  using  her  influence  to  obtain 
favourable  terms  for  the  Dukes  of  Mayenne  and 
Guise,  and  by  betrothing  her  eldest  son  to  the 
heiress  of  the  Mercoeurs.  She  also  courted  the  favour 
of  the  Huguenots.  Aubigne  tells  how  on  one  occasion, 
when  the  King  had  good  reason  to  complain  of  the 
factious  conduct  of  some  among  the  Protestant 
leaders,  he  came  unexpectedly  to  Court  and  was  well 
received  by  Henry,  who  bade  him  kiss  his  mistress, 
and  sending  for  their  little  son  Caesar  from  his  bed, 
placed  him  naked  as  he  was  in  his  old  servant's  arms, 
saying  that  he  meant  in  another  year  to  commit  him 
to  his  care,  in  order  that  he  might  be  educated 
among  those  of  the  Religion  and  win  their  affection. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace  and  when  her  lover 
was  securely  established  on  the  throne  Gabrielle  per- 
suaded him  to  entertain  more  seriously  the  thought 


1601]         Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         383 

of  their  marriage.  Whenever  Sully's  name  is  men- 
tioned in  his  memoirs  we  must  be  on  our  guard 
against  his  mendacious  self-esteem,  and  everything 
he  tells  us  about  Gabrielle  d'Estr^es  is  to  be  received 
with  caution.  He  hated  her,  because  he  believed 
that  but  for  her  he  might  be  the  all  powerful  favour- 
ite and  adviser  of  his  Prince,  and  his  hatred  was 
inflamed  by  all  the  rancour  which  a  man  morbidly 
vain  and  wanting  in  generosity  naturally  felt  towards 
one  whose  favours  he  had  repaid  by  ingratitude. 
He  also  wishes  to  pose  as  the  author  of  all  good,  the 
opponent  of  everything  injurious  to  king  or  kingdom. 
Therefore  he  would  have  us  believe,  that  it  was  he 
who  brought  about  the  King's  divorce,  he  who  dis- 
suaded his  master  from  marrying  Gabrielle.  Nay, 
he  apparently  wishes  to  insinuate  that  he  did  not 
shrink  from  complicity  in  a  plot  to  murder  a  woman 
whose  influence  might  be  so  fatal  to  the  country. 
Throughout  that  prodigious  monument  of  senile 
garrulity  the  Econojuies  Royales,  the  ex-minister, 
to  exaggerate  his  own  importance  and  familiarity 
with  the  King,  forges  and  falsifies  letters  and  other 
documents  ;  and  he  is  scarcely  less  anxious  to  de- 
preciate the  merits  and  influence  of  others  than  he  is 
to  exalt  his  own.  The  services  of  Sancy,  Villeroy, 
Jeannin,  De  Thou,  of  all  the  most  trusted  of  the 
King's  advisers  are  ignored,  their  errors  or  failings 
exaggerated.  But  the  great  reputation  of  Du  Plessis- 
Mornay,  his  lofty  character,  his  credit  with  the  King, 
made  him  the  special  mark  of  Sully's  envious  malig- 
nity. The  most  artful  malevolence  sought  in  vain  to 
detect  a  flaw  in  Mornay's  integrity,  but  the  tempta- 


384  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598 

tion  to  attribute  to  himself  the  credit  of  what  Mornay 
had  done  was  irresistible  to  Sully.  Accordingly  we 
find  in  the  Economies  Royalcs  a  fictitious  corre- 
spondence between  Margaret  of  Valois  and  M.  de 
Rosny,  and  an  account  of  the  events  preceding  the 
death  of  the  Duchess  of  Beaufort  which  recent  in- 
vestigations have  shown  to  be  little  else  than  a 
romance.  We  cannot  therefore  give  full  credit  to 
Sully's  account  of  a  conversation  with  the  King, 
towards  the  end  of  1598.  Yet  we  may  well  believe 
that  some  such  discussion  as  that  recorded  took  place, 
even  if  Sully  exaggerates  the  freedom  with  which  he 
spoke  to  his  master. 

The  King,  he  would  have  us  believe,  began  by 
saying  that  his  ambassador  at  Rome  and  others  about 
the  Papal  Court  assured  him  that  the  Pope  was  anx- 
ious to  serve  him  in  the  matter  of  his  divorce,  and 
that  therefore  he  had  decided  to  look  about  him  for 
a  wife,  who  might  bear  him  an  heir  and  prevent  the 
evils  of  a  disputed  succession.  He  would  like  "  that 
not  impossible  she,"  his  future  wife,  to  be  beautiful, 
chaste,  amiable,  and  accommodating  in  humour, 
clever,  of  illustrious  birth  and  great  estate  ;  but  he 
feared  such  a  one  was  either  dead  or  not  yet  born. 
He  then  enumerated  all  the  marriageable  foreign 
princesses  and  French  girls  of  high  rank,  beginning 
with  the  Infanta  Isabella,  whom  he  said  he  would 
take  could  he  obtain  the  Low  Countries  with  her,  but 
to  that  her  father  would  never  consent ;  to  all  the 
others  he  discovered  some  objection.  "  A  pity,"  said 
Sully  "that  the  Queen  of  England  cannot  be  made 
young,  or  Mary  of  Burgundy  or  some  other  great  heir- 


1601]         Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         385 

ess  of  past  time  resuscitated  for  you,  but  since  this 
may  hardly  be,  what  if  you  were  to  collect  all  the  mar- 
riageable maidens  of  your  kingdom,  select  the  most 
pleasing  from  among  them  and  then  try  to  discover 
your  paragon  among  the  chosen  few  ? "  Henry 
laughed  and  allowed  that  it  was  absurd  to  expect 
perfection,  but  his  bride  must  possess  three  essential 
qualifications:  She  must  have  good  looks,  good 
temper  and  be  capable  of  bearing  him  a  son.  Sully 
replied  that  he  did  not  think  that  it  could  be  known 
beforehand  of  any  woman  that  she  would  satisfy  the 
King  in  these  particulars,  especially  in  the  last.  "  At 
any  rate,"  said  the  king,  "  I  know  that  my  mistress 
would." 

By  the  end  of  1598  it  was  generally  known  that 
the  King  intended  to  marry  Madame  de  Beaufort. 
Queen  Margaret  wrote  to  her  :  "  My  desires  are  in 
all  respects  the  same  as  yours  and  the  King's.  I 
speak  my  mind  freely  to  you,  as  to  one  whom  I  con- 
sider my  sister,  and  honour  and  esteem  next  to  the 
King."  As  a  substantial  proof  of  her  good-will  she 
executed  a  deed  conveying  her  Duchy  of  Etampes 
to  Gabrielle. 

The  approaching  elevation  of  the  King's  concu- 
bine to  the  throne  excited  general  alarm.  Not  that 
the  Duchess  was  herself  unpopular.  Her  gentleness, 
the  moderation  with  which  she  used  her  influence, 
employing  it  never  to  injure,  and  generally  only  to 
benefit  others,  won  the  affection  of  those  with  whom 
she  came  in  contact ;  she  had  no  enemies,  says 
Aubigne,  except  the   necessities  of  the  State.     But 

neither  her  birth  nor  her  previous  life  fitted  her  to 
25 


386  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

be  the  Queen  of  France  ;  she  had  greedy  relations, 
and  the  dread  of  a  disputed  succession  haunted  all 
who  had  a  thought  for  the  future  of  their  country. 
The  prospect  of  so  splendid  a  station  disturbed  her 
own  cheerful  serenity  ;  she  became  nervous  and 
full  of  vague  but  distressing  apprehensions.  She  may 
have  felt  that  all  had  so  far  gone  too  smoothly;  that 
fortune  under  so  smiling  a  face  must  hide  some 
treacherous  intent.  It  was  with  tears  and  dismal 
forebodings  that  she  left  the  King  at  Fontainebleau 
to  spend  the  Easter  of  1599  at  Paris.  She  lodged 
at  the  Deanery,  but  on  the  evening  of  April  6th 
supped  at  the  house  of  Zamet  a  rich  Italian.  This 
man,  the  son  of  a  shoemaker  of  Lucca,  and  a  former 
valet  of  Henry  III.,  had  enriched  himself  by  usury 
and  speculation.  From  being  the  servant  he  had 
become  the  boon  companion  of  princes,  who  found 
him  a  merry  and  generous  host,  untroubled  by  scru- 
ples or  pretensions.  Gabrielle  accepted  an  invitation 
to  spend  the  evening  of  the  7th  at  the  same  house, 
but  was  then  too  unwell  to  leave  her  room.  On  the 
next  day  she  was  much  worse  and  fell  into  violent 
convulsions ;  on  the  9th  she  was  artificially  delivered 
of  a  dead  child  ;  towards  the  evening  she  became 
unconscious  and  died  the  morning  after  (April  loth). 
There  is  as  little  reason  to  suppose  that  she  was 
poisoned  as  that  her  neck  was  wrung  and  her  soul 
carried  off  by  the  devil.  Both  reports  were  current, 
but  the  latter  was  more  generally  believed  by  the 
populace,  to  whom  it  seemed  that  her  great  power 
over  the  King  must  be  due  to  some  supernatural 
cause.     No  contemporary  writer  acquainted  with  the 


1601]        Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.        387 

Court,  except  Sully,  hints  that  there  was  any  plot 
against  her  life. 

The  despair  and  grief  of  the  King  were  extreme. 
Violet,  the  colour  in  which  the  sovereigns  of  France 
mourned,  was  not  sombre  enough  to  express  his 
sorrow.  He  clad  himself  in  black.  He  received  in 
gloomy  state  the  condolences  of  his  Parliaments  and 
of  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  powers.  No  cere- 
monial was  omitted,  which  would  have  been  due  to 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees  had  she  been  the  crowned  con- 
sort of  the  King  of  France.  But  no  courtly  observ- 
ance could  do  her  such  honour  as  the  unfeigned  tears 
of  the  Princess  of  Orange*  and  of  Catherine  of 
Navarre.  The  latter,  whom  her  brother,  with  little 
regard  for  her  feelings  and  for  her  long  attachment 
to  the  Count  of  Soissons,  had  lately  married  to  the 
Duke  of  Bar,  forgot  all  unkindness  and  wrote  in 
words  of  which  we  should  be  sorry  to  doubt  the  sin- 
cerity. "  My  dear  King,  I  am  well  aware  no  words 
can  heal  your  great  grief.  I  only  write  these  to 
assure  you  that  I  share  in  it  as  completely  as  I  needs 
must,  owing  to  my  extreme  love  for  you  and  to  my 
own  loss  of  so  perfect  a  friend.  I  much  wish  I  had 
been  with  you,  to  offer  you  in  your  affliction  all  the 
humble  service  I  owe  you.  Believe  me,  my  dear 
King,  I  shall  always  act  a  mother's  part  by  my 
nephews  and  nieces.  I  humbly  beg  that  you  will 
remember  that  you  have  promised  me  my  niece.  If 
you  will  let  me  have  her  I  will  treat  her  with  as 
much  love  and  care  as  if  she  were  my  own  daughter. 
...  If  it  pleased  God,  my  King,  that  I  could  lighten 
*  The  daughter  of  Coligny  and  widow  of  William  the  Silent. 


388  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598 

your  grief  by  the  sacrifice  of  some  years  of  my  life, 
I  would  pray  with  all  my  heart  that  it  might  be  so, 
and  upon  this  truth  I  kiss  you  a  thousand  times,  my 
dear  and  brave  King."  Her  brother  assured  her  in 
his  reply  that  her  sympathy  was  a  consolation  to  him 
in  his  grievous  sorrow,  a  sorrow  as  incomparable  as 
the  object  for  whom  he  mourned.  That  henceforth 
regrets  and  lamentations  must  accompany  him  to  the 
tomb.  Since  God  had  caused  him  to  be  born  not 
for  himself,  but  for  his  people,  all  his  thoughts  and 
cares  should  henceforth  be  devoted  to  the  welfare 
and  preservation  of  his  kingdom.  "  The  root,"  he 
concluded,  "  of  my  love  is  dead,  and  will  never  put 
forth  another  branch." 

If  the  King  expected  no  more  pleasure  in  life,  if 
henceforth  he  was  determined  to  live  for  his  country 
alone,  then,  as  soon  as  he  was  released  by  the  Papal 
sentence  from  the  ties  which  bound  him  to  Margaret 
of  Valois,  there  could  no  longer  be  any  reason  to 
delay  his  union  with  a  Princess  who  might  bear  the 
longed-for  Dauphin. 

The  reigning  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  had  a  niece, 
the  daughter  of  his  brother  and  predecessor,  Francis, 
and  of  Jane  of  Austria  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Ferdinand.  The  King's  advisers,  undeterred  by  the 
many  ills  of  which  a  Florentine  marriage  had  before 
been  the  cause,  selected  this  young  lady,  Mary  de' 
Medici,  as,  on  the  whole,  the  most  eligible  partner 
of  his  throne.  The  Grand  Duke  was  wealthy  and 
could  give  his  niece  a  dowry  which  might  extinguish 
a  debt  due  to  him,  and  leave  a  useful  balance.  No 
sooner  was  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  dead  than  the  Flor- 


1601]         Divorce  and  Secona  Marriage.        3  80 

entine  envoy  and  Villeroy  began  busily  to  negotiate 
the  marriage  treaty. 

But  while  his  ministers  were  higgling  about  the 
terms  on  which  he  should  sell  his  hand,  Henry  had 
given  away  his  heart,  or  what  remained  of  it ;  some 
portion,  we  should  like  to  believe,  and  that  the 
better  part,  rested  in  Gabrielle's  grave.  For  it  was 
to  the  fascination  she  exercised  over  the  baser  parts 
of  his  nature,  his  senses  and  his  fancy,  that  his  next 
mistress  owed  her  fatal  power. 

After  spending  two  months  at  Fontainebleau, 
where  everything  reminded  him  of  his  loss,  he  deter- 
mined to  seek  distraction  in  a  visit  to  the  cheerful 
banks  of  the  Loire.  On  the  road  to  Blois  lay  Male- 
sherbes,  a  castle  of  Francis  de  Balzac,  lord  of  En- 
tragues  and  Governor  of  Orleans,  a  man  of  tarnished 
reputation,  but  of  good  family  and  the  husband  of 
Marie  Touchet,  formerly  mistress  of  Charles  IX., 
and  the  mother  of  a  royal  bastard,  Charles  of  Valois, 
Count  of  Angouleme,  to  whom  the  old  Queen 
Catherine,  passing  over  her  daughter  Margaret,  had 
left  her  county  of  Auvergne.  Among  three  children 
born  by  Marie  Touchet  to  her  husband,  was  a 
daughter  Henriette,  not  surpassingly  beautiful,  for 
her  nose  was  not  above  reproach,  her  lips  were  thin 
and  when  in  repose  ill-tempered,  and  there  was 
more  intelligence  than  charm  in  her  high  and  well- 
formed  forehead,  yet  marvellously  fascinating  by 
her  grace,  her  vivacity,  and  her  ready  wit. 

Few  who  were  dazzled  by  her  bright  eyes  and 
mobile  smile  could  pause  to  note  and  criticise  the 
defects  of  so  brilliant  a  creature.     Henry,  when  in 


390  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598 

the  first  week  of  June  he  came  to  Malesherbes,  only 
intended  a  stay  of  a  few  days  to  be  spent  hunting 
in  the  woods  which  fringe  the  narrow  valley  of  the 
Essonne.  Before  twenty-four  hours  were  over  the 
disconsolate  and  elderly  mourner  was  himself  in  the 
toils  of  this  Delilah  of  eighteen  ;  the  end  of  July 
found  him  still  lingering  at  her  feet,  and  when  he 
left  it  was  to  follow^  his  new  flame  and  her  mother  to 
Paris. 

The  room  which  Henry  occupied  during  his  long 
and  frequent  visits  to  Malesherbes  still  exists,  hung 
with  the  same  old  tapestry,  on  which  the  eyes  of  the 
King  must  often  have  rested,  the  vision  of  Ezekiel, 
and  below  a  quaint  legend  : 

Mort,  feinnie  et  temps,  tout  soit  viel  et  antique 
Mondaine  amour  et  chastete  pudique 
Tout  prendra  fin. 

It  may  happen  that  a  mourner  is  attracted  by  a 
resemblance  in  character  or  outward  presentment  to 
what  is  no  more,  so  striking  and  close  that  the  new 
passion  is  in  some  sort  to  be  excused  as  but  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  old.  But  it  must  have  been  because 
nothing  in  Henriette  d'  Entragues  could  remind  him 
of  what  he  had  lost  in  Gabrielle,  that  the  King  was 
so  easily  fascinated  by  her.  No  comparison  was 
challenged,  in  which  his  judgment  might  have  been 
biassed  by  tender  regret.  Gabrielle's  regular  features, 
her  soft  and  alluring  beauty  were  in  keeping  with  a 
gentle  and  placid  disposition.  She  had  played  the 
part  of  a  mistress  with  the  modest  dignity  of  an 
honourable  woman.     Henriette  had  been   carefully 


1601]        Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         391 

brought  up  by  her  mother,  who,  it  was  told,  had 
stabbed  with  her  own  hand  a  page  presumptuous 
enough  to  make  love  to  her  daughter;  yet,  though 
an  inexperienced  girl  of  barely  eighteen,  she  had  all 
the  arts  and  tricks  and  depraved  instincts  of  a  cour- 
tesan, eager  to  profit  by  the  passions  she  inspired 
without  sharing.  Her  somewhat  swarthy  and  viva- 
cious features,  her  expressive  eyes  sometimes  melt- 
ing, oftener  cold  and  imperious,  her  nervous  mouth, 
her  slim  and  active  shape,  were  well  in  keeping  with 
her  restless  and  unscrupulous  ambition,  her  malicious 
and  cynical  wit. 

Since  the  King  had  been  willing  to  marry  the 
Duchess  of  Beaufort,  there  appeared  to  Henriette 
and  her  family  to  be  no  reason  why,  if  they  played 
their  cards  well,  she  should  not  be  Queen.  On 
public  grounds  there  would  be  less  to  urge  against 
such  a  match  ;  no  question  could  be  raised  as  to  the 
legitimacy  of  her  children.  Mademoiselle  d'Entra- 
gues  therefore  did  her  best  to  inflame  the  King's 
passion.  She  herself  would  not  bargain  with  her 
sovereign.  She  was  his  to  command,  and  she  grate- 
fully received  his  gifts ;  rich  jewels  and  a  princely 
fortune.  But  her  father's  sense  of  honour  was  so 
nice  that  he  could  bear  no  blot  on  his  scutcheon,  and 
she  was  carefully  watched  by  her  mother.  At  length 
early  in  October,  the  King  placed  in  her  hands  the 
following  amazing  document :  "  We,  Henry  by  the 
Grace  of  God,  King  of  France  and  Navarre,  promise 
and  swear  before  God  and  by  our  faith  and  kingly 
word  to  Monsieur  Francois  de  Balzac,  Sieur  d'En- 
tragues,  etc.,  etc.,  that  he,  giving  us  to  be  our  consort 


392  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598- 

{pour  compagne)  demoiselle  Henriette  Catharine  de 
Balzac,  his  daughter,  provided  that  within  six  months 
from  the  present  day  she  become  pregnant  and  bear 
a  son,  then  and  forthwith  we  will  take  her  to  wife 
and  publicly  marry  her  in  face  of  our  Holy  Church," 
etc.  After  this  D'Entragues  no  longer  refused  to 
close  his  eyes  to  his  daughter's  dishonour.  The 
negotiations  with  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  were 
proceeding  apace  ;  it  was  also  known  that  the  King 
had  been  able  to  find  consolation  in  other  quarters. 
The  young  lady  and  her  friends  shrank  from  the  risk 
of  further  delay.  They  no  doubt  hoped  that  her 
more  intimate  relations  with  the  King  would  give 
Henriette  not  less  influence  over  him  than  had  been 
exercised  by  her  predecessor.  In  November  (1599), 
Henriette  d'Entragues  was  publicly  installed  as 
reigning  favourite  in  a  house  sumptuously  furnished 
for  her;  such  a  bird,  said  Henry,  deserved  a  fine 
cage. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1600  the  room  of  the  Mar- 
chioness of  Verneuil — so  she  was  now  styled — was 
struck  by  lightning,  and  the  premature  birth  of  a 
dead  child  relieved  the  King  from  his  conditional 
promise.  Had  Henriette  borne  him  a  living  son  the 
situation  would  have  been  awkward,  for  already  in 
the  previous  March  the  French  plenipotentiaries  had 
signed  their  master's  marriage  contract  with  Mary 
of  Medici.  The  marriage  itself  was  celebrated  by 
proxy  at  Florence  on  the  3d  of  October.  On  the 
17th,  escorted  by  a  Tuscan  and  Papal  fleet,  the  new 
Queen  of  France  sailed  from  Leghorn.  Neptune, 
says  Malherbe,  anxious  to  contemplate   her  charms 


1601]        Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         393 

as  long  as  possible,  showed  his  gallantry  by  so  buf- 
feting her  splendid  galley,  inlaid  without  with  ivory, 
mother  of  pearl  and  lapis  lazuli,  and  hung  within 
with  cloth  of  gold  and  silk  brocade,  that  it  was 
obliged  to  seek  shelter  in  Porto  Finale  on  the  Ligu- 
rian  coast.  It  was  not  till  November  3d  that  she 
reached  Marseilles,  whence  she  proceeded  by  easy 
stages  to  Lyons.  There  she  was  received  with  much 
joy  by  the  citizens,  among  whom  were  many  of  her 
own  countrymen.  In  that  town,  the  emporium  of 
all  trade  between  France  and  Italy,  the  natives  of 
Florence,  Genoa  and  Lucca  had  churches  and  even 
streets  of  their  own.  In  the  church  of  the  Celes- 
tines  was  the  magnificent  tomb  of  the  Pazzi,  the 
exiled  enemies  of  the  house  of  Medici.  This  the 
paltry  spite  of  the  new  Queen  of  France  condescended 
to  mutilate.  Such  a  proof  of  a  rancorous  and  un- 
generous disposition  was  well  calculated  to  alarm  and 
disgust  her  husband,  so  magnanimous  in  his  treat- 
ment of  opponents  whether  alive  or  dead,  and  who 
used  to  say  that  of  all  faults  vindictiveness  appeared 
to  him  the  most  unpardonable. 

Henry  had  been  actively  engaged  in  a  little  war 
against  Savoy,  and  this  had  been  his  excuse  for  not 
receiving  his  bride  when  she  landed  in  France.  He 
had  soothed  her  disappointment  by  letters  couched 
in  his  most  amorous  vein.  Such  descriptions  of  her 
had  reached  him  that  he  loved  her,  he  said,  not  as  a 
husband  ought  to  love  his  wife,  but  as  a  passionate 
lover  adores  his  mistress.  He  w^as  suffering  from  a 
fever,  but  the  sight  of  her  would  cure  him.  All  this 
time,  when  he  was  not  with   Henriette,  and  he  had 


394  Henry  of  Navarre.  11598- 

sent  for  her  to  Dauphiny,  he  was  writing  to  her  "  his 
sweetheart,  his  very  own  "  in  terms  of  more  heartfelt 
tenderness.  The  King  joined  his  wife  a  day  or  two 
after  her  arrival  at  Lyons,  where  the  Cardinal  Legate 
gave  the  nuptial  benediction  in  great  pomp  to  the 
newly  wedded  pair. 

Henry  professed  to  be  much  pleased  with  the  per- 
son and  the  gentle  and  submissive  manners  of  his 
wife.  Mary  of  Medici,  though  twenty  years  younger 
than  her  husband,  was  no  longer  a  girl,  and  a  full  and 
rather  heavy  figure  made  her  look  older  than  her 
age,  twenty-six.  She  had  pretty  hair,  a  good  com- 
plexion, fine  arms  and  a  white  skin,  which  she  dis- 
played liberally,  but  her  forehead  was  heavy,  her 
nose  coarse,  her  mouth  sensual,  her  flat  bold  eyes 
wanting  in  expression.  Even  when  compared  with 
the  crowd  of  full-blown  Flemish  nymphs  who  sur- 
round her  in  the  allegorical  compositions  of  Rubens, 
she  appears  wanting  in  grace  and  distinction.  The 
Queen  looked  good-natured,  and  was  not  unwilling 
to  please  her  husband,  but  from  the  first  he  was 
plagued  by  the  pretensions  and  quarrels  of  her  Italian 
followers.  Two  of  these  were  destined  to  exercise 
a  fatal  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  their  mistress 
and  of  France.  Leonora  Dosi  or  Galigai  had  been 
brought  up  with  Mary  of  Medici  as  a  humble  play- 
fellow and  companion,  a  black-eyed  swarthy  little 
creature  like  a  gipsy  changeling,  full  of  malice  and 
ambition,  whose  restless  energy  had  won  a  complete 
ascendancy  over  her  phlegmatic  mistress.  The 
knowledge  of  her  power  over  the  Queen  induced  a 
certain  Concini,  a  younger  son  of  good  family — his 


MARY     OF    MEDICI. 
From  the  painting  by  F.  F  >rbus  in  Prado  Museum  in  Madrid 


1601]        Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         395 

father  had  been  the  Grand  Duke's  minister, — who 
hoped  to  find  his  fortune  in  France,  to  pay  Leonora 
some  court.  He  was  only  too  successful.  Her 
ardent  passion  scorned  all  disguise.  Their  amorous 
dalliance  in  the  Queen's  room  and  presence  provoked 
malicious  comment,  and  Mary  of  Medici,  not  ill-dis- 
posed to  the  handsome  gallant  on  her  own  account, 
was  induced  by  her  confidante  to  treat  him  with  an 
indulgence  compromising  to  both  mistress  and  maid. 
The  Galigai  was  not  loved  and  Concini  was  detested 
by  the  Italians  about  the  Queen.  Henry  therefore 
had  abundant  warning  that  they  were  ambitious  and 
dangerous  intriguers.  He  refused  to  listen  to  his 
wife's  entreaties  that  Leonora  should  be  appointed 
her  Bedchamber  woman.  The  proposal  was,  he  said, 
preposterous ;  the  place  was  one  which  had  always 
been  held  by  a  lady  of  quality.  If  Leonora  and 
Concini  would  marry  he  would  gladly  find  a  dowry, 
but  on  condition  that  they  returned  to  Florence, — a 
suggestion  received  by  Mary  of  Medici  with  sullen 
obstinacy.  The  thought  of  parting  with  Leonora 
was  unendurable,  and  Concini  grew  daily  in  favour. 
Eventually  Leonora  obtained  the  desired  appoint- 
ment, but  through  the  intervention  of  Henriette 
d'Entragues  with  whom  she  formed  a  temporary  al- 
liance— a  result  well  calculated  to  increase  the  re- 
sentment of  the  Queen,  who  saw  her  husband  grant 
to  the  suggestion  of  his  mistress  what  he  had  refused 
to  the  prayers  of  his  wife. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1600,  peace  was  con- 
cluded with  Savoy.  The  King  declared  that  his 
presence   was    needed    in    the  North,  but  that   the 


396  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1598 

health  of  the  Queen  must  not  be  endangered  by  a 
hurried  journey  in  an  exceptionally  cold  winter. 
Leaving  her  therefore  to  follow  by  slow  stages,  he 
rode  post  to  Fontainebleau,  to  throw  himself  into 
the  arms  of  Madame  de  Vcrncuil. 

Two  or  three  weeks  later  the  Queen  reached  Paris, 
On  the  very  evening  of  her  arrival  Henry  per- 
suaded the  Duchess  of  Nemours  to  introduce 
Henriette  to  his  wife.  As  she  came  forward  he 
explained  who  she  was,  "  This  young  lady  is  my 
mistress,  she  will  be  your  very  obedient  and  humble 
servant."  As  a  scanty  courtesy  appeared  to  hold 
out  little  prospect  of  the  fulfilment  of  this  promise, 
he  placed  his  hand  on  Henriette's  head  and  bent  it 
down  till  she  had  kissed  the  hem  of  the  Queen's 
dress. 

He  must  be  allowed  to  have  so  contrived  the  intro- 
duction of  the  rivals  as  to  exasperate  to  the  utmost 
the  tempers  of  both  women.  The  ideal  of  married 
life  which  he  appears  to  have  formed  was  such  as 
might  have  occurred  to  an  amiable  Turk  emanci- 
pated from  the  jealous  prejudices  of  the  East.  A 
Sultana  to  be  the  mother  of  his  heir,  and  a  reigning 
favourite  chosen  from  among  a  bevy  of  women, — to 
one  or  another  of  whom  the  royal  handkerchief 
might  from  time  to  time  be  thrown, — were  to  show 
their  gratitude  for  the  good-humoured  indulgence 
with  which  he  was  prepared  to  treat  them,  by  living 
amiably  and  cheerfully  together.  To  realise  such  a 
dream  of  domestic  felicity  would  nowhere  be  easy, 
but  the  attempt  could  hardly  have  been  made  under 
conditions   more  adverse  than  those   against  which 


16011         Divorce  and  Second  Marriage.         397 

Henry  IV.  had  to  struggle  :  his  wife,  disposed  to 
jealousy,  ruled  by  unscrupulous  favourites,  alter- 
nately passionate  and  sullenly  obstinate  ;  his  mistress 
a  very  demon  of  malice,  with  a  cold  heart  and  a  hot 
head  ;  both  eagerly  watched  by  those  who  sought 
to  use  their  ambition  and  their  mutual  hatred  to 
annoy  the  King  and  perplex  his  policy. 

A  letter  of  the  Duchess  of  Thouars  has  preserved 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  royal  household.  She  found, 
she  says,  the  King  and  Queen  walking  up  and  down 
together,  while  Mademoiselle  de  Guise — who,  it  was 
whispered,  since  she  could  not  be  Queen,  would  have 
been  satisfied  to  be  reigning  mistress — sat  embroider- 
ing strips  of  canvas.  Madame  de  Verneuil  came 
into  the  room  at  her  pleasure  and  though  the  Queen 
flushed  with  anger,  began  to  talk  to  her,  or  flouted 
and  jeered  at  the  King.  The  Court  was  full  of 
jealousies  and  quarrels  and  not  much  frequented  by 
people  of  quality.  The  Queen  was  on  bad  terms 
with  Madame  de  Guercheville  (a  lady  of  character 
and  the  first  in  position  of  her  French  attendants) 
and  the  King  with  Signora  Leonora. 

Matters  were  scarcely  improved  by  the  birth  of 
the  longed-for  heir — Sept.  27,  1601.  Henry  indeed 
was  delighted  and  characteristically  wrote  to  Madame 
de  Verneuil,  expatiating  on  the  beauty  of  her  rival's 
baby.  There  is  a  touching  simplicity  in  his  apparent 
confidence  that  she  would  sympathise  with  his  pride 
and  delight  in  the  child. 

Henriette  herself  gave  birth  to  a  boy  a  month 
later,  and  in  the  pride  of  her  motherhood  scoffed 
at  the  banker's  fat  daughter,  who  had  indeed  got  a 


!98 


Henry  of  Navarre. 


[1601 


son,  but  not  the  Dauphin,  for  the  King  was  her 
husband,  she  had  his  written  promise,  and  it  was  she 
who  held  the  Dauphin  in  her  arms  ;  he  at  any  rate, 
she  added,  should  not  go  to  St.  Germains  to  be 
brought  up  with  the  royal  bastards. 


CHAPTER  X. 

WAR     WITH     SAVOY  — SPANISH      INTRIGUES  —  CON- 
SPIRACIES  OF   BIRON   AND   OF  THE   ENTRAGUES. 

1599-1609. 


|HE  Peace  of  Vervins  had  not  decided 
whether  or  how  the  Marquisate  of 
Saluzzo,  occupied  by  the  Duke  of  Sa- 
voy during  the  civil  troubles  in  France, 
should  be  restored.  In  the  winter 
of  1599,  Charles  Emmanuel  came 
himself  to  the  French  Court,  trusting  by  means  of 
400,000  crowns,  which  he  brought  with  him,  to  secure 
such  support  among  the  King's  advisers,  that  he 
would  be  allowed  to  keep  his  acquisition  on  easy 
terms.  He  was  indignant  that  his  father-in-law, 
Philip  II.,  passing  over  the  Duchess  of  Savoy,  should 
have  bestowed  the  Netherlands  on  her  younger  sister 
Isabella,  and  offered,  if  well  treated  by  Henry  IV., 
to  help  him,  when  the  time  came,  to  attack  the 
House  of  Austria  in  Italy  and  Germany.  But  the 
French  Government  persisted  in  demanding  the  im- 
mediate cession  of  the  Marquisate  or  of  an  equivalent. 
Since  the  Duke,  on  futile  pretexts,  delayed  to 
accept    either   the    one    or    the    other    alternative 

399 


400  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

war  was  declared  against  Savoy  (August,  i6oo). 
When  operations  commenced  the  season  was  late 
and  the  snow  already  deep  on  the  mountains.  The 
Duke  was  assisted  by  4,000  Swiss  sent  by  the  Spanish 
Governor  of  Milan  and  by  the  ill-will  of  Biron  the 
principal  French  general,  yet  such  was  the  energy  of 
Lesdiguieres  and  of  the  King,  so  effective  the  new 
organisation  of  the  army,  that  before  the  end  of  the 
year  Charles  Emmanuel  was  suing  for  peace  and  had 
reason  to  esteem  himself  fortunate  that  he  was  able 
to  persuade  the  King  to  accept  an  indemnity  of 
800,000  crowns  with  the  county  of  Bresse  and  other 
lordships  on  the  western  side  of  the  Alps,  forming 
the  modern  department  of  the  Ain.  Fort  St.  Cathe- 
rine, built  by  the  Dukes  of  Savoy  to  be  a  constant 
threat  to  the  Genevese,  had  been  taken  by  the  King 
during  the  campaign.  It  was  now  razed,  never  again 
to  be  rebuilt  (Jan.,  1560). 

The  Duke  of  Savoy,  after  his  fruitless  visit  to  the 
Court  of  France,  hearing  the  taunt  that  he  had  carried 
away  with  him  nothing  but  the  mud  of  his  winter 
journey,  replied:  "  The  mud  can  be  brushed  off,  but  I 
have  left  behind  me  traces,  which  the  sword  alone 
can  obliterate."  An  adept  in  intrigue,  he  had  noticed 
the  restless  discontent  of  many  of  those  nobles  who 
had  fought  on  the  King's  side  against  the  League. 
They  contrasted  their  rewards  with  the  favours  ob- 
tained by  their  former  adversaries  and  complained 
of  their  master's  ingratitude.  Their  importance  had, 
they  felt,  depended  on  the  war,  and  was  likely  fur- 
ther  to  diminish  as  the  country  became  more  settled 
and  the  authority  of  the  Crown  better  established. 


1609]  War  with  Savoy.  40 1 

Foremost  among  these  malcontents  was  the  Mar- 
shal Duke  of  Biron,  the  inheritor  of  his  father's 
ambition,  vanity  and  martial  reputation.  If  miser- 
liness and  ingratitude  were  defects  in  Henry's 
character,  he  had  not  shown  them  in  his  treatment 
of  the  companion-in-arms  whose  life  he  had  twice 
saved  in  battle  at  the  risk  of  his  own.  He  had  made 
him  Marshal,  Duke,  and  Peer  of  France,  Governor 
of  the  wealthy  and  important  frontier  province  of 
Burgundy.  But  no  rewards  appeared  adequate  to 
Biron's  extravagant  estimate  of  his  deserts,  no  wealth 
could  fill  the  bottomless  purse  of  an  inveterate 
gambler  and  spendthrift.  Biron  liked  to  boast  that 
his  own  and  his  father's  services  had  given  the  King 
his  crown,  and  made  no  secret  of  his  disgust  that  he 
was  not  all  powerful  at  Court.  His  need  of  mone\' 
was  as  well  known  as  his  extravagant  ambition,  and 
he  became  the  dupe  of  alchemists  and  of  adepts  in 
occult  sciences,  who  fooled  him  with  the  prospect 
of  boundless  wealth  and  high  fortune. 

The  Duke  of  Savoy  found  such  a  man  a  willing 
recipient  of  a  part  of  the  treasure  he  had  brought  for 
the  corruption  of  the  French  Court,  and  ready  to 
incline  his  ear  to  any  scheme  which  implied  his  own 
aggrandisement.  One  La  Fin,  an  adventurer  and 
charlatan,  who,  after  wasting  his  own  substance  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  had  acquired 
the  confidence  of  the  Marshal  by  his  skill  in  alchemy, 
astrology  and  magic,  conducted  the  negotiations 
between  him  and  Charles  Emmanuel.  Nothing  defin- 
ite was  settled  before  the  war  of  1600.     The  support 

of  Spain  was  indispensable  to  the  confederates,  but 
36 


402  Henry  of  Navarre.  [I59d- 

Philip  III.  was  phlegmatic  and  timid  :  his  minister, 
the  Duke  of  Lerma,  as  incompetent  as  he  was  greedy 
and  aspiring,  distrusted  his  own  ability  to  cope  with 
such  an  adversary  as  Henry  IV.  Accordingly  the 
Spanish  Court  declared  that  during  the  King's  life 
nothing  could  be  done,  suggesting  at  the  same  time 
that  this  obstacle  might  be  removed.  Various  plans 
for  the  assassination  of  Henr}'  were  discussed,  as  well 
as  the  terms  on  which  the  Duke  of  Savoy  would 
bestow  his  daughter's  hand  on  the  Marshal. 

Henry  knew  something  of  what  was  going  on,  and 
took  such  precautions  that  Biron  was  compelled  to 
assist  in  the  defeat  of  his  confederate.  On  the  con- 
clusion of  the  war,  thinking  that  nothing  could  be 
done  for  the  present,  and  wishing  to  guard  against 
the  danger  of  detection,  Biron  made  a  merit  of  con- 
fessing to  the  King  that  he  had  had  some  dealings 
with  Savoy  and  in  a  moment  of  pique  had  asked  the 
hand  of  the  Duke's  daughter  ;  and  for  whatever  he 
had  done  amiss  he  implored  a  pardon  which  was 
readily  granted. 

Scarcely  however  had  the  peace  been  signed  before 
Biron  was  again  listening  to  the  offers  of  the  Duke 
of  Savoy  and  of  the  Spaniards.  The  hand  of  a 
princess,  a  dowry  of  300,000  crowns  and  the  inde- 
pendent sovereignty  of  Burgundy  were  irresistible 
baits  to  his  ambition  and  poverty.  He  preferred, 
he  said,  death  on  the  scaffold  to  an  almshouse,  and 
became  the  centre  of  all  who  plotted  against  King 
or  country  in  France.  He  affected  to  be  a  zealous 
Catholic  and  deplored  the  sinful  tolerance  of  the 
King,  while  at  the  same  time  he   and   Bouillon  en- 


1609]  War  with  Savoy.  403 

deavoured  to  persuade  the  Huguenots  that  their 
extermination  had  been  promised  to  the  Pope. 

The  towns  were  excited  by  an  artfully  disseminated 
report  that  the  hated  pancarte,  or  tax  on  sales,  was 
but  the  beginning  of  a  new  system  of  fiscal  oppres- 
sion. The  inhabitants  of  those  provinces  which  were 
exempt  from  or  had  compounded  for  the  gabelle, 
were  informed  that  Sully  intended  to  impose  a 
uniform  salt  tax  on  the  whole  kingdom. 

It  is  not  likely  that  any  definite  treaty  was  drawn 
up  between  the  Marshal  and  his  foreign  allies  ;  but 
the  understanding  appears  to  have  been,  that,  after 
the  King  and  his  family — "the  lion  and  his  whelps" 
— had  been  cleared  out  of  the  way,  the  Crown  of 
France  should  be  declared  elective  and  the  great 
vassals,  like  the  Princes  of  the  Empire,  be  practically 
sovereign  in  their  respective  territories.  An  inde- 
pendence as  great  as  that  of  the  free  imperial  cities 
would,  it  was  hoped,  induce  the  larger  towns  to 
acquiesce  in  the  disruption  of  the  kingdom.  Such 
a  scheme  was  well  calculated  to  tempt  the  selfish 
ambition  of  the  more  powerful  nobles.  The  Con- 
stable Montmorency,  Epernon  and  many  others 
appear  to  have  been  privy — at  least  in  part — to  the 
conspiracy.  The  half-brother  of  Henriette  d'En- 
tragues,  the  Count  of  Auvergne,  took  a  more  active 
part  in  the  plot,  and  his  sister  certainly  knew  some- 
thing of  what  was  going  on.  The  restless  ambition 
of  Bouillon  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  the 
sovereignty  of  an  independent  Protestant  State  to  be 
formed  beyond  the  Loire,  but  he  attempted  in  vain  to 
draw  the  other  Huguenot  leaders  into  the  design. 


404  Henry  of  Navarre.  [159&- 

In  September,  1601,  Henry  was  at  Calais,  and 
Queen  Elizabeth  came  to  Dover,  partly  in  the  hope 
that  her  old  ally  would  visit  her  to  discuss  how  best 
they  might  humble  Spain.  Henry  IV.  would  gladly 
have  done  so,  but  he  feared  to  alarm  the  Catholics, 
and  was  unwilling  to  do  anything  which  might  lead 
to  an  immediate  renewal  of  the  war.  He  sent  Biron 
to  offer  his  excuses  and  regrets,  and  Elizabeth  in- 
vited the  Duke  to  accompany  her  to  London. 
Taking  him  by  the  hand,  as  he  was  talking  to  her  in 
a  room  of  the  Tower,  she  led  him  to  a  window,  and 
pointed  to  where  the  once  loved  head  of  Essex  was 
rotting  in  wind  and  rain.  "  Had  he  but  confessed 
that  he  deserved  death  I  would  have  pardoned  him. 
He  bowed  before  the  headsman,  because  his  pride 
would  not  endure  to  stoop  to  me.  If  I  grieved  for 
the  death  of  that  poor  wretch,  it  was  for  his  in- 
gratitude." Then  looking  fixedly  into  the  Marshal's 
restless  and  sinister  eyes,  deep  set  in  his  swarthy 
face,  she  continued :  "  If  the  King  would  believe 
me,  there  are  as  many  heads  which  need  to  be  cut 
of^  in  Paris  as  in  London." 

That  same  month  the  Dauphin  Lewis  was  born ; 
perhaps  Biron's  heart  misgave  him,  more  probably 
he  distrusted  his  confidant,  with  whom  he  was  no 
longer  on  the  best  of  terms,  for  he  wrote  to  La  Fin, 
"  God  has  given  the  King  a  son,  let  us  forget  our 
dreams."  Yet  shortly  after  he  renewed,  through 
another  agent,  his  negotiations  with  Spain  and 
Savoy.  La  Fin,  on  the  offer  of  a  free  pardon  and 
great  rewards,  came  to  Fontainebleau,  told  all  he 
knew,    and    placed    in    the    King's    hands    letters 


1609]  War  with  Savoy.  4^5 

written  by  Biron  and  containing  ample  proof  of  his 
treason. 

Henry,  alarmed  at  the  extent  of  the  conspiracy, 
wrote  to  Biron,  that  what  he  had  heard  from  La  Fin 
had  entirely  satisfied  him,  and  begged  him  to  come 
to  court ;  while  he  himself  hurried  into  the  western 
provinces,  where  he  feared  the  discontent  of  the 
towns  and  peasantry  and  the  influence  among  the 
Huguenots  of  the  Dukes  of  Thouars  and  Bouillon. 
He  reassured  the  Protestants,  contradicted  the 
malicious  reports  about  new  imposts  and  the  exten- 
sion of  the  salt  tax  and  received  protestations  of 
loyalty,  which  it  was  politic  to  believe,  from  Mont- 
morency and  Epernon.  The  latter  he  brought  back 
with  him  to  Fontainebleau,  and  he  once  more  sum- 
moned Biron.  If  he  obeyed  and  came,  he  would 
not  believe  a  word  of  the  charges  against  him.  Con- 
scious of  guilt  the  Marshal  would  gladly  have  stayed 
away;  but  Sully  had  stripped  the  fortresses  of 
Burgundy  of  their  guns,  on  the  pretext  of  replacing 
them  with  better  artillery  ;  6,ooo  Swiss  and  French 
troops  commanded  by  loyal  oflficers  were  quartered 
in  the  province  and  in  the  neighbouring  districts  ;  as 
many  more  were  on  the  march.  Montmorency  and 
Epernon  had  drawn  back.  The  Huguenots  would 
not  listen  to  Bouillon  ;  Spain,  averse  to  active  inter- 
ference in  France,  would  certainly  not  come  to  his 
assistance.  The  short  campaign  of  1600  had  in- 
spired the  Duke  of  Savoy  with  a  prudent  dread  of 
French  arms.  Biron  had  no  choice  but  to  obey  or 
to  fly  the  country,  a  powerless  and  dishonoured 
exile.     He  therefore  determined  to  so  to  Fontaine- 


4o6  Henry  of  Navarre.  1599- 

bleau,  to  appeal  to  the  King's  old  friendship,  and  to 
oppose  a  brazen  denial  to  any  charges  brought 
against  him,  which  would  be,  as  he  supposed,  little 
more  than  vague  surmises  resting  on  no  certain 
evidence. 

No  one  was  less  vindictive  and  more  humane  than 
Henry  IV.,  and  we  may  well  believe  his  assurance 
that  if  his  own  safety  alone  and  not  that  of  his 
family  and  country  had  been  at  stake,  he  would  still 
have  pardoned  his  old  friend  and  companion  in  arms. 
As  it  was,  he  assured  Sully  that  if  Biron  would  make 
a  clean  breast,  confess  everything  and  sue  for  pardon, 
all  should  be  forgiven  and  forgotten.  He  probably 
justified  such  clemency  by  the  reflection  that  the 
Duke  after  such  abasement  would  no  longer  be 
dangerous.  He  bade  the  minister  go  to  him  and 
advise  him  to  conceal  nothing,  and  to  hope  every- 
thing from  his  master's  affection.  But  Biron  was 
obdurate.  He  protested  both  to  Sully  and  to  the 
King,  with  whom  he  had  two  interviews,  that  he 
had  been  foully  calumniated,  that  he  had  done 
nothing,  knew  nothing  except  what  he  had  already 
confessed  at  Lyons. 

The  evening  of  the  second  day  after  his  arrival  he 
played  cards  till  after  midnight  at  the  Queen's  table ; 
as  he  rose  to  leave,  the  King  called  him  aside : 
"  Biron,  you  know  that  I  have  loved  you.  Confess 
the  truth  to  me  and  I  will  pardon  you."  Again 
Biron  said  he  had  nothing  to  confess.  "  I  see," 
replied  Henry,  "  that  I  shall  learn  nothing  from  you. 
Perhaps  the  Count  of  Auvergne  will  tell  me  more. 
Good-bye,  Baron  de  Biron."     As  soon  as  he  passed 


1609] 


War  with  Savoy.  407 


the  door  he  was  arrested  by  the  Captain  of  the 
Guard,  who  asked  for  his  sword.  The  Marshal 
broke  out  into  laments  and  protestations.  What ! 
his  sword  that  had  done  such  service !  Was  this 
the  reward  of  his  campaigns,  his  thirty-two  wounds, 
his  father's  merits?  He  must  and  would  speak  to 
the  King;  at  length  he  surrendered  his  sword  and 
was  led  to  the  Bastille,  where  his  captivity  was  shared 
by  the  Count  of  Auvergne. 

Biron  was  forthwith  arraigned  of  high  treason 
before  the  Parliament.  The  peers  of  the  realm  were 
summoned  to  take  their  place  among  the  judges,  as 
was  customary  when  one  of  their  number  was  on  his 
trial.  But  none  appeared.  They  were  unwilling  to 
condemn  yet  dared  not  acquit.  The  evidence  of  the 
guilt  of  the  accused  was  overwhelming  and  the 
court  unanimously  sentenced  him  to  a  traitor's 
death  (July  29,  1602). 

The  Chancellor  and  other  of^cials  went  to  the 
Bastille  to  communicate  the  judgment  to  the  pris- 
oner. He  was  occupied  in  astrological  calculations, 
seeking  to  discover  his  fate  from  the  stars.  When 
he  learnt  on  more  certain  authority  what  it  was  to 
be,  he  burst  forth  in  a  passion  of  violent  invective. 
Was  this  the  King's  gratitude  ?  Why  did  he  refuse 
to  pardon  him  and  let  greater  culprits  go  scot  free? 
How  many  times  had  Epernon  betrayed  him,  and 
Mayenne  ?  Queen  Elizabeth  was  ready  to  forgive 
Essex,  had  he  asked  for  mercy.  Well,  if  he  must 
die,  he  must,  but  the  King  had  not  learnt  all  his 
secret,  and  never  should  from  him.  Even  yet  he 
could  not  believe  that  he  would  be  executed.     So 


4o8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

\ 

contrary  to  all  precedent  did  it  seem  that  a  great 
noble  and  officer  of  the  Crown  should  be  capitally 
punished  for  conspiracy  against  the  King's  life  and 
the  peace  of  the  country.  He  showed  no  vestige  of 
religious  feeling ;  he  would  not  even  pray,  fearing, 
says  a  contemporary,  the  devil  more  than  God.  But 
he  bade  those  about  him  tell  the  people  that  he  died 
a  good  Catholic  ;  he  would  send  no  message  to  his 
mother  because  she  was  a  heretic.  He  wished  it  to 
be  believed  that  he  died  a  martyr,  and  thus  to  stim- 
ulate the  zeal  of  the  fanatics,  who  daily  plotted 
against  the  King's  life. 

When  he  was  brought  out  to  the  scaffold  in  the 
courtyard  of  the  Bastille,  for  he  was  spared  the  igno- 
miny of  the  Place  de  Greve,  the  spectators  marvelled 
that  a  man  famous  for  the  most  undaunted  valour, 
should  on  that  last  scene  display  so  little  self- 
possession  or  dignity.  But  it  was  rage  not  fear,  the 
hope  that  at  the  last  he  would  be  pardoned  and  bitter 
disappointment  that  this  hope  was  not  realised, 
which  made  him  three  times  snatch  the  bandage  from 
his  eyes,  threaten  the  executioner  that  he  would 
strangle  him  if  he  but  laid  a  finger  on  him,  and  alarm 
those  who  stood  around  by  his  fierce  words  and  angry 
gestures.  At  length  the  headsman  took  him  una- 
wares and  with  marvellous  dexterity  struck  off  at  a 
blow  his  bull-necked  head  ;  three  times  it  is  said  to 
have  bounded  from  the  ground,  "  impelled  by  the 
fury  which  possessed  it." 

Henry  IV.  was  probably  glad  that  Biron  had  died 
without  making  any  full  and  public  confession.  He 
had  learnt  all  that  it  concerned  him   to  know  from 


1609]  War  with  Savoy.  409 

La  Fin  and  from  the  base  terror  of  the  Count  of 
Auvergne,  who,  to  save  his  Hfe,  offered,  King's  son 
though  he  was,  to  play  the  part  of  a  spy  and  to  con- 
tinue to  communicate  with  his  confederates  in  order 
that  he  might  disclose  their  plans  to  the  Government. 
The  King  neither  desired  a  war  with  Spain  and 
Savoy,  whose  ambassadors  expressed  to  him  their 
masters'  satisfaction  that  he  had  crushed  so  danger- 
ous a  conspiracy,  nor  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
country  by  punishing  the  great  nobles  who  had  been 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  accomplices  of  the 
Duke  of  Biron. 

Bouillon  after  disobeying  repeated  commands  to 
come  to  Court,  and  conscious  that  he  had  carried  his 
ingratitude  and  treason  further  than  others,  fled  the 
country  and  sought  a  refuge  with  his  brother-in-law 
the  Elector  Palatine.  He  tried  to  excite  sympathy 
as  a  sufferer  for  the  Protestant  cause,  and  did  what 
he  could  to  persuade  the  Germans  that  the  King  of 
France  had  become  a  persecutor,  at  the  very  moment 
when  Henry  was  negotiating  for  the  formation  of  a 
league  of  the  German  Protestants,  the  main  object 
of  which  was  to  be  the  election  of  a  non-Austrian 
prince  as  King  of  the  Romans.  Failing  in  this 
Bouillon  retired  to  Sedan,  the  impregnable  capital 
of  his  wife's  dominions.  The  execution  of  Biron  was 
an  impressive  warning  that  the  game  of  treason  could 
not  henceforth  be  played  with  a  light  heart  and  the 
certainty  of  impunity  ;  but  a  fanatic  does  not  pause 
to  weigh  consequences,  and  an  assassin  may  hope 
to  escape  in  the  confusion  and  consternation  of 
his  success.     The  notorious  book    of    Mariana,  Dc 


4IO  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

Rege  et  Regis  Institutione  (Toledo,  1599 — Mayence, 
1605)  had  justified  tyrannicide,  and  glorified  Jean 
Chastel,  and  the  King,  says  Aubigne,  who  feared 
nothing  else,  dreaded  the  Jesuit's  knife.  The 
Jesuits  indeed  pointed  out  that  Mariana  was  a 
rebel  to  authority,  the  leader  of  the  Spanish  faction 
and  the  chief  opponent  of  their  General  Aquaviva ; 
that  his  book  was  no  exposition  of  their  true  doc- 
trine, that  they  did  not  teach  regicide,  nor  even  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope  in  temporal  matters — at  least 
he  had  but  an  extraordinary  supremacy,  one  only  to 
be  used  when  absolutely  necessary  for  the  salvation 
of  the  souls  of  the  faithful.  It  was  a  vile  calumny  to 
call  them  the  tools  of  Spain  at  the  very  moment 
when  they  were  being  persecuted  by  the  King  of 
Spain  and  his  Dominican  Inquisition.  All  this  and 
much  more  was  urged  by  Father  Cotton,  afterwards 
the  King's  complaisant  confessor,  who  had  been 
allowed  to  come  to  Court  to  plead  the  cause  of  his 
Order. 

Cotton  was  the  very  man  for  the  task,  supple,  un- 
scrupulous, the  typical  Jesuit  of  Protestant  contro- 
versy, disarming  suspicion  by  an  apparent  simplicity 
which  bordered  on  folly.  Everything  that  persua- 
sion, everything  that  intrigue  could  effect  was  done 
to  induce  the  King  to  permit  the  Order  to  return 
to  Paris.  They  only  wished  to  be  allowed  to  reopen 
their  schools.  They  would  not  preach.  They  would 
obey  the  ordinary.  There  were  no  bounds  to  their 
submissive  humility.  His  mistress  Henriette,  La 
Varenne  his  confidant  and  pandar,  the  majority  of 
his  Catholic  ministers,  urged  the  King  to  gratify  the 


1609]  War  with  Spain.  411 

Pope  and  to  prove  his  love  of  toleration  by  allowing 
the  poor  fathers  to  return.  Sully  vainly  pointed  out 
that  the  Jesuits,  who  were  the  soul  of  the  counter 
Reformation,  who  were  supreme  at  the  Courts  of 
Vienna  and  Brussels,  must  necessarily  be  the  in- 
veterate opponents  of  a  policy  based  on  toleration, 
and  which  aimed  at  overthrowing  the  power  of  the 
Hapsburgs  by  consolidating  German  Protestantism. 
"  No  doubt,"  replied  his  master,  "  but  I  must  do 
one  of  two  things  :  Receive  them  and  learn  by  ex- 
perience the  value  of  their  protestations  and  prom- 
ises, or  by  a  decided  refusal  reduce  them  to  such 
despair,  that  they  will  certainly  attempt  my  life, 
which  will  be  made  so  wretched  by  the  constant  fear 
of  dagger  or  poison  that  I  would  far  rather  be 
dead."  The  Parliament  protested  in  vain.  The 
decree  authorising  the  return  of  the  Order  was  regis- 
tered (September,  1603).  The  King  showed  the 
Jesuits  much  favour,  liberally  endowed  their  college 
at  La  Fleche  and  other  institutions.  But  he  at  the 
same  time  allowed  the  Huguenots  to  open  their 
place  of  worship  at  Charenton,  and  endeavoured  to 
persuade  them  by  word  and  deed  that  they  might 
trust  to  his  affection  and  policy  for  protection  against 
their  enemies.  The  Jesuits  had  hoped  with  the  aid 
of  their  friends  among  his  advisers  to  make  Henry 
their  confederate  in  the  struggle  against  heresy. 
When  they  found  that  he  was  still  the  ally  of  their 
opponents  and  the  strength  of  the  resistance  to  the 
further  progress  of  Romanism,  were  they  not  likely 
in  their  disappointment  to  become  even  more  bitter 
and  dangerous  enemies,  and  that  too,  as  Sully  said, 


412  Henry  of  Navarre.  11599- 

after  they  had  been  admitted  into  the  very  heart  of 
the  place  ? 

Modern  historians  have  shown  that  the  "  Grand 
Design,"  attributed  to  Henry  IV.,  of  a  Christian 
Commonwealth  composed  of  fifteen  Confederate 
States,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  republican  and 
monarchical,  elective  and  hereditary,  was  an  inven- 
tion of  Sully's  vanity  and  leisure.  Such  a  visionary 
scheme  would  not  have  recommended  itself  to  the 
essentially  practical  mind  of  the  King,  the  aim  of 
whose  policy  if  less  ideal  and  disinterested  was  at 
least  more  attainable. 

The  Peace  of  Vervins  ended  the  hostilities  in  the 
field  between  the  two  countries  ;  but  indirectly,  and 
with  the  weapons  of  diplomacy  and  intrigue,  the 
struggle  between  France  and  the  heirs  of  Charles  V. 
was  carried  on  with  unabated  animosity.  Henry 
IV.  complained  with  good  ground,  that  the  insub- 
ordination of  his  nobles,  the  disappointed  ambition 
of  his  captains,  the  humours  of  his  wife,  the  far- 
reaching  hopes  and  rancour  of  his  mistress,  the 
troublesome  fanaticism  and  ignorant  prejudices  of  a 
part  of  his  people  and  clergy  were  encouraged  and 
inflamed  by  Spanish  intrigue:  that  all  who  plotted 
or  attempted  anything  against  him  or  his  Govern- 
ment, did  so  with  the  full  assurance  of  Spanish  help, 
or  of  finding,  at  the  worst,  a  refuge  on  Spanish 
territory. 

But  he  was  himself  not  less  assiduous  in  his  efforts 
to  injure  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  not  less  careful  to 
encourage  its  enemies  and  to  prepare  by  his  diplo- 
macy allies  for  himself  in  the  war,  upon  which  he 


1609]  Spanish  Intrigues.  413 

was  determined  as  soon  as  he  had  re-established 
order,  restored  the  finances  of  France,  reorganised 
his  army  and  collected  sufficient  resources  for  a 
struggle  destined  to  change  the  face  of  Europe. 
For  it  was  no  doubt  his  hope  to  separate  the 
Netherlands  from  Spain,  to  unite  the  Protestant 
princes  of  Germany  in  a  firm  alliance,  and  with  their 
help  to  deprive  the  Austrian  House  of  the  Imperial 
crown,  while  he  at  the  same  time  assisted  the  Italian 
princes  to  drive  the  Spaniards  out  of  the  peninsula. 
Had  he  been  able  to  effect  this,  even  without  any 
extension  of  territory,  France  would  have  become 
the  arbitress  of  Europe.  But  he  contemplated  no 
such  disinterested  policy.  He  would  have  been  glad 
to  annex  the  whole  of  the  Netherlands,  and,  if  Dutch 
love  of  independence  and  English  jealousy  made 
this  impossible,  he  at  least  hoped  to  obtain  Artois, 
Hainault  and  Franche-Comte,  with  Roussillon,  as 
the  reward  of  his  efforts  for  the  common  cause.  It 
was  thought  also  that  he  had  not  quite  forgotten  the 
traditional  French  claims  to  the  two  Sicilies  and 
Milan,  yet  as  it  was  not  likely  that  the  Italian  powers 
would  help  to  overthrow  the  domination  of  Spain 
simply  to  place  themselves  under  that  of  France, 
he  was  probably  prepared  to  forego  all  territorial 
aggrandisement  beyond  the  Alps. 

Henry  IV.  had  fully  made  up  his  mind  that  when 
he  was  prepared  for  war  and  an  opportunity  offered 
he  would  attack  Spain  and  Austria,  but  the  time  and 
manner  of  the  attack  were  to  be  determined  by  cir- 
cumstances. 

The  death  of  Queen   Elizabeth  (1603)  was   most 


414  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

sincerely  mourned  by  her  old  ally.  "  She  was,"  he 
said,  "  my  second  self,  the  irreconcilable  enemy  of 
our  enemies."*  Sully  was  at  once  sent  to  persuade 
her  successor  to  embark  on  an  anti-Spanish  policy, 
and  to  conclude  a  yet  closer  alliance  with  France. 
James  I.  was  at  first  eager  for  peace  with  Spain 
and  spoke  of  the  Dutch  as  rebels  who  deserved  no 
help.  But  the  discovery  of  a  plot  for  his  assassina- 
tion changed  his  mood,  and  he  listened  to  the  advice 
of  his  wiser  ministers,  especially  of  Cecil,  who, 
though  unwilling  either  to  engage  England  in  a 
struggle  which  might  overtax  her  resources,  or  to 
assist  France  to  acquire  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Netherlands,  was  averse  to  any  peace  which  should 
not  effectually  limit  the  power  of  Spain.  Olden 
Barneveld  also  came  to  England  to  plead  in  person 
the  cause  of  his  countrymen,  and  impressed  the 
British  Solomon  by  the  vigour  of  his  genius  and  the 
cogency  of  his  arguments.  James  listened  com- 
placently to  proposals  for  a  double  marriage  between 
the  Dauphin  and  his  only  daughter,  the  Lady  Eliza- 
beth, and  between  Prince  Henry  and  Elizabeth  of 
France.  In  the  treaty  which  was  finally  signed 
there  was  no  mention  of  these  betrothals,  but  the 
English  King  promised  to  allow  soldiers  to  be  levied 
in  England  and  Scotland  for  the  defence  of  Ostend 
besieged  by  the  Spaniards,  while  Henry  IV.  engaged 

*  The  expression  occurs  in  a  letter  given  by  Sully  in  the  Economies 
Royales,  of  doubtful  authenticity,  since  it  purports  to  have  been  written 
by  the  King  on  the  day  before  that  on  which  we  know  that  he  heard 
of  Elizabeth's  death,  and  bears  other  traces  of  Sully's  workshop  for 
manufacturing  documents.  But  Henry  says  very  much  the  same 
thing  ia  a  letter  written  to  his  ambassador  in  England  shortly  after. 


1609]  Spanish  Intrigues.  415 

to  defray  the  expenses  of  this  force,  a  third  part  of 
what  he  spent  being  deducted  from  the  debt  he 
owed  to  the  EngHsh  Government.  Accordingly  a 
reinforcement  of  6,000  men  joined  the  contingent, 
which,  under  Sir  Francis  Vere,  was  assisting  Maurice 
to  resist  Spinola. 

In  Germany,  French  diplomacy  was  active,  en- 
deavouring to  unite  the  Protestant  princes  divided 
by  dynastic  quarrels  and  theological  hatred,  and  to 
prepare  the  way  for  the  elevation  of  a  non-Austrian 
prince  to  the  Imperial  throne.  In  order  to  distract 
the  attention  of  the  Hapsburgs,  Henry  IV.  en- 
deavoured to  prevent  the  conclusion  of  peace  in 
1602  between  Turkey  and  the  Emperor.  In  1603 
the  French  ambassador  urged  the  new  Sultan, 
Achmet,  an  energetic  and  ambitious  prince,  to  con- 
clude peace  with  Persia  and  to  turn  his  arms  against 
Hungary.  The  capture  of  Pesth  by  the  Moslem 
was  thus  to  some  extent  the  consequence  of  the 
diplomacy  of  the  Most  Christian  King  to  whom  the 
inventor  of  the  "■  Grand  Design  "  attributes  the 
intention  of  turning  the  Turk  bag  and  baggage  out 
of  Europe. 

French  agents  also  sought  to  turn  the  sufferings 
of  the  Moriscos,  the  half  converted  descendants  of 
the  Spanish  Moors,  to  account,  by  inciting  them  to 
defend  themselves  by  arms  against  their  fanatical 
and  foolish  oppressors. 

But  nowhere  was  Henry's  diplomacy  more  success- 
ful than  in  Italy.  He  remained  on  good  terms  with 
the  Pope  and  influential  at  Rome,  while  refusing  to 
permit  the  promulgation  in  France  of  the  decrees  of 


41 6  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

the  Council  of  Trent,  and  maintaining  his  right  to 
appoint  to  vacant  bishoprics  and  benefices,  and  that 
of  his  parHaments  to  receive  appeals  from  the 
ecclesiastical  courts  and  even  to  deprive  bishops  of 
their  sees,  an  abomination  in  the  eyes  of  the  High 
Church  and  Ultramontane  party. 

On  the  death  of  Clement  VIII.  (March,  1605) 
French  influence  and  gold  brought  about  the  election 
of  the  Cardinal  Alexander  de'  Medici  (Leo  XL),  and 
on  his  death  within  less  than  a  month  after  his 
elevation,  of  the  Cardinal  Camillo  Borghese  (Paul 
v.),  a  prelate  who,  at  any  rate,  was  no  friend  of 
Spain. 

But  nothing  did  more  to  raise  the  French  King's 
reputation  and  influence  in  Italy  than  his  successful 
mediation  in  a  quarrel  concerning  ecclesiastical  im- 
munities between  the  Pope  and  Venice  (1606). 
Spain  hoped  as  the  champion  of  the  Church  to 
obtain  a  pretext  for  attacking  and  humbling  the 
Republic,  which  had  been  the  persevering  and 
dangerous,  though  cautious  opponent  of  her  Italian 
policy.  Henry  IV.,  on  the  other  hand,  owed  a  debt 
of  gratitude  to  Venice,  which  had  been  the  first 
Roman  Catholic  power  publicly  to  acknowledge  his 
title,  and  he  more  than  repaid  that  debt  by  enabling 
the  Senate  to  conclude  an  arrangement  with  the 
Holy  See  by  which  Paul  V.  virtually  surrendered 
all  disputed  points,  and  thereby  abandoned  that 
claim  of  the  spiritual  power  to  pre-eminence  over  the 
temporal,  which  Rome  had  struggled  during  so  many 
centuries  to  establish.  But  the  Italians  were  less 
impressed  by  a  concession,  which  marks  an  epoch 


1609]  Spanish  Inb'igiies.  417 

in  the  history  of  the  Church,  than  by  the  vic- 
tory won  by  French  over  Spanish  diplomacy.  The 
Duke  of  Savoy,  who  had  gained  nothing  from  his 
connection  with  Spain,  abandoned  the  dream  of  a 
Burgundian  kingdom  extending  to  the  Rhone,  and 
hoped  by  allying  himself  with  France  to  obtain 
Lombardy  or  some  equivalent  accession  of  territory 
at  the  expense  of  his  former  allies. 

But  the  French  King  was  not  always  the  aggressor 
in  the  contest  of  intrigue,  nor  was  the  advantage 
always  on  his  side.  Just  as  the  Spanish  army  was 
still  the  army  of  Pedro  Navarro  and  of  Gonsalvo  of 
Cordova,  of  Alva,  and  Farnese,  still  the  most  perfect 
instrument  of  warfare  in  Europe,  surpassing  other 
troops  in  organisation,  professional  pride  and  dis- 
cipline, so  Spanish  diplomacy  still  displayed  the 
Machiavellian  arts,  the  restless  activity  it  had  learnt 
when  directed  by  the  untiring  vigilance  of  the  recluse 
of  the  Escurial.  Scarcely  a  day  passed  but  Henry 
was  reminded  that  Spain  retained  both  the  power 
and  the  will  to -do  him  an  injury. 

Soon  after  Biron's  conspiracy  it  was  discovered 
that  the  secretary  of  Villeroy  was  in  the  pay  of 
the  Spaniards  and  communicated  to  them  all  the 
secrets  of  the  French  foreign  ofBce.  The  Count  of 
Auvergne,  who  had  cunningly  secured  an  oppor- 
tunity to  continue  his  treasonable  correspondence 
by  affecting  a  wish  to  make  his  relations  with  the 
Court  of  Madrid  the  means  of  obtaining  information 
for  the  French  Government,  disclosed  only  what  was 
unimportant  or  untrue  and  persisted  in  conspiring 
against  his  King  and  country. 


41 8  Henry  of  Navarre.  [I699- 

The  domestic  life  of  Henry  IV.  was  very  much 
what  his  extraordinary  disregard  of  decency  and 
dignity  deserved,  and  it  was  never  more  stormy  and 
uncomfortable  than  about  this  time  (1604).  He  was 
tormented  by  the  reproaches  and  by  the  mutual  abuse 
of  his  wife  and  mistress.  Mary  of  Medici  complained 
that  Madame  de  Verneuil  dared  to  insinuate  that  she 
was  the  King's  true  wife,  her  son  the  legitimate 
heir.  If  the  King  were  to  die,  she,  his  widow,  and 
the  Dauphin  would  be  exposed  to  great  danger. 
The  domestic  and  foreign  enemies  of  the  Govern- 
ment would  be  eager  to  support  the  claim  of  Hen- 
riette's  boy  as  a  pretext  for  troubling  the  kingdom. 
Henriette,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained  that,  even 
during  her  lover's  life,  she  had  reason  to  dread  the 
jealous  hostility  of  the  Florentine  ;  while  if  anything 
were  to  happen  to  Henry,  who  could  protect  her  and 
her  poor  orphans  against  the  Queen  Regent?  The 
least  the  King  could  do  was  to  give  her  some  strong 
castles  and  towns  in  which  they  might  seek  a 
refuge.  As  he  refused  to  entertain  such  a  proposal, 
she  spoke  in  such  terms  of  his  wife  and  so  tauntingly 
to  her  lover,  that  he  was  nearly  provoked  into  boxing 
her  ears.  But  so  great  was  her  power  over  him,  so 
delightful  and  amusing  her  society,  so  alluring,  as  it 
would  seem,  even  her  devilry  and  malice,  that  on  the 
next  day  he  would  again  be  at  her  feet  and  lament- 
ing her  coldness.  For  she  scarcely  deigned  to  con- 
ceal her  indifference ;  were  he  not  a  King,  she  used 
to  say,  no  one  would  tolerate  him  as  a  lover,  and  he 
had  good  reason  to  believe,  that  there  were  others 
whom  she  regarded  with  more  favour. 


(609]  Spanish  Intrigues.  419 

In  the  middle  of  June  (1604)  the  EngHsh  ambas- 
sador handed  to  the  King  a  letter,  in  which  James 
I.  advised  him  to  seize  the  person  and  papers  of  one 
Morgan,  a  Spanish  spy  and  agent,  then  in  Paris.  It 
appeared  from  documents  in  Morgan's  possession 
tl^at  the  Count  of  Auvergne  and  the  Entragues  were 
seeking  not  only  to  secure  the  support  of  Spain  for 
Henriette  and  her  children  in  the  event  of  the  King's 
death,  but  also  intended  to  attempt  some  treason 
during  his  lifetime. 

Auvergne  was  in  his  county  ;  the  King  sent  for 
Entragues,  but  he  and  his  daughter  stoutly  denied 
that  there  had  been  more  than  vague  talk  between 
them  and  the  Spanish  ambassador  as  to  whether  the 
King  of  Spain  would  promise  Henriette  a  refuge  in 
his  dominions.  Entragues  was  not  immediately  ar- 
rested, and  hurried  to  his  Castle  of  Marcoussis,  where 
three  moats  and  drawbridges  always  raised  would 
secure  him  against  a  surprise.  He  was  therefore  not 
a  little  astonished  when  early  one  morning  his  cur- 
tains were  drawn  by  a  royal  officer  and  he  saw  his 
room  filled  with  archers  of  the  Guard  ;  four  of  whom 
had  passed  the  triple  moats  and  bridges,  in  the  dress 
of  country  women  bringing  butter  and  eggs  for  their 
lord's  breakfast,  overpowered  the  sentinels  and  ad- 
mitted their  comrades. 

Entragues  was  carried  off  to  the  Bastille,  and  with 
him  a  voluminous  correspondence  between  the  con- 
spirators and  the  Spanish  Court,  containing  pro- 
posals for  the  assassination  of  the  King  and  a  promise 
signed  by  Philip  III.  to  recognise  the  son  of  Madame 
de  Verneuil  as  heir  to  the   French   throne   on  the 


420  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

decease  of  Henry  IV.  The  only  thing  wanting  was 
the  celebrated  promise  of  marriage.  On  a  hint  that 
he  might  thus  buy  his  pardon,  Entragues  told  where 
it  might  be  found  hidden  in  a  hole  in  the  wall.  The 
prisoner  signed  a  declaration  that  this  was  the  au- 
thentic promise,  and  that  no  other  to  the  same  effect 
existed.  There  had  been  a  popular  rumour  of  one 
written  by  the  King  with  his  blood,  which  Henriette 
was  said  to  keep  in  her  own  possession. 

In  the  meantime  Auvergne  had  been  arrested. 
Madame  de  Verneuil  also  was  placed  in  confinement. 
The  culprits  were  brought  to  trial  before  the  Parlia- 
ment. Entragues  and  Auvergne  were  convicted  of 
high  treason  and  sentenced  to  death.  Henriette  was 
remanded  until  further  evidence  could  be  procured. 
The  lives  of  her  father,  an  inveterate  and  unscrupu- 
lous intriguer,  and  of  her  half-brother,  who,  under  a 
not  unpleasing  exterior  and  a  dignified  grace  of  man- 
ner, such  as  few  of  his  father's  house  were  wholly 
unable  to  assume,  had  the  soul  of  a  swindling  lac- 
quey, were  justly  forfeited.  The  King's  advisers 
were  urgent  that  the  law  should  be  allowed  to  take  its 
course.  The  execution  of  a  King's  son  for  treason, 
and  for  conspiring  with  foreign  powers  would  have 
been  an  even  more  useful  warning  to  high-born 
traitors  than  the  death  of  Marshal  Biron.  Henry 
had  done  his  best  to  overcome  his  passion  for  Hen- 
riette d'Entragues.  At  first  he  turned  for  assistance 
and  sympathy  to  his  wife.  But,  he  complained  to 
Sully,  she  received  his  advances  coldly  and,  when 
he  would  have  caressed  her,  assumed  a  repellent 
air.    There  was  nothing  about  her  which  could  make 


1609]       Co7ispiracies  of  the  Entragues.  42 1 

it  easy  to  forget  the  graceful  vivacity,  the  nimble 
wit  of  his  perfidious  mistress.  But  perhaps  fire  might 
drive  out  fire.  The  Princess  of  Cond^  had  about 
her  a  young  relation  Jacqueline  de  Beuil,  conspicuous 
among  the  beauties  of  the  Court  for  her  golden  hair 
and  brilliant  complexion,  her  infantile  yet  voluptuous 
grace.  The  King  determined  to  make  her  his  mis- 
tress. Perhaps  he  hoped  to  find  in  her  more  placid 
nature  some  of  the  repose  he  had  lost  with  his 
Gabrielle.  The  Princess  of  Cond^  did  not  properly 
appreciate  the  advancement  in  store  for  her  cousin, 
but  the  King  gave  her  very  roughly  to  understand 
that  she,  at  any  rate,  was  not  the  person  to  affect 
scruples  of  honour.  The  young  lady  herself  regarded 
the  matter  more  simply  as  a  business  transaction. 
She  bargained  for  a  title,  an  estate,  a  pension,  a  large 
sum  of  ready  money  and  a  husband. 

The  King  was  in  no  hurry  to  discard  a  toy  so 
costly  as  the  new  mistress,  yet  he  did  not  find  that 
she  enabled  him  to  forget  the  old.  The  corrupt 
perversity,  the  fiery  temper,  the  biting  tongue  of 
Madame  de  Verneuil  were  more  stimulating  to  his 
jaded  taste,  than  the  cloying  sweetness  of  a  more 
beautiful  but  soulless  courtesan.  He  felt  that  he 
must  have  his  Henriette  back,  and  all  the  more  be- 
cause she  affected  to  scorn  him  and  would  not  sue 
for  mercy.  But  if  he  cut  off  the  father's  head,  even 
he,  dead  as  he  was  to  all  sense  of  seemliness,  felt 
that  he  could  scarcely  again  be  the  daughter's 
lover.  Entrague's  life,  therefore,  must  be  spared. 
The  Count  of  Auvergne,  he  argued,  was  too  weak  in 
character,  too  blasted  in  reputation  to  be  dangerous, 


422  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

and  it  might  seem  unworthy  of  his  magnanimity  to 
send  the  last  scion  of  the  House  of  Valois  to  the 
scaffold.  Instead,  therefore,  of  being  led  out  to 
execution,  the  Count  was  locked  up  in  the  Bastille, 
while  Entragues  and  his  daughter  were  released. 

Early  in  the  new  year  (1605)  the  King  was  again 
in  amorous  correspondence  with  Henriette,  begging 
her  to  love  him,  to  whom  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
compared  with  her  was  as  nothing.  Mile,  de  Beuil, 
now  Countess  of  Moret,  was  indeed  retained,  as  a 
refuge  when  the  mistress  was  spiteful  and  the  wife 
sulky.  Before  long  the  resources  of  the  royal  harem 
were  further  extended  by  the  addition  of  a  third 
publicly  acknowledged  mistress.  Mary  of  Medici 
appeared  to  resent  her  husband's  infidelities  less 
violently,  now,  when  she  shared  his  affections  with 
many,  than  when  she  dreaded  the  dangerous  in- 
fluence of  Henriette  d'Entragues  alone.  The  irreg- 
ularity of  the  King's  conduct  was  perhaps  the  less 
displeasing  to  her,  because  it  compelled  him  to  buy 
her  complaisance  by  shutting  his  eyes  to  the  scan- 
dalous favour  and  unbounded  influence  of  Concini 
and  his  wife,  Leonora. 

Shortly  after  the  conspiracy  of  the  Entragues, 
discovery  was  made  of  a  plot  to  betray  Marseilles, 
Beziers  and  other  towns  in  the  South  to  the  Span- 
iards. In  the  North  they  were  again  treating  with 
Bouillon,  who  was  disappointed  by  the  refusal  of 
the  Huguenot  Assembly  which  met  in  1605  at 
Chatelleraut,  to  countenance  his  opposition  to  the 
King.  Henry  at  length  lost  patience  with  this 
troublesome  intriguer.     He  advanced  upon  Sedan 


1609;         Conspiracies  of  the  Ejitr agues.         423 

with  a  small  army  and  a  powerful  battering  train. 
When  the  Duke  saw  that  neither  Protestants  nor 
Spaniards  would  stir  a  finger  to  help  him,  he  capitu- 
lated. The  terms  he  obtained  were  favourable  in 
the  extreme.  No  punishment  was  inflicted  on  him 
except  the  occupation  of  Sedan  during  four  years 
by  a  royal  garrison  under  a  Huguenot  commander. 
The  leniency  of  the  King  is  perhaps  to  be  excused 
by  his  desire  to  conciliate  the  Protestants  and  the 
neighbouring  German  princes,  who  interceded  for 
Bouillon,  yet  that  ruler  bears  the  sword  in  vain  who 
encourages  by  impunity  plots  dangerous  to  the 
security  of  his  country  and  to  the  lives  of  his 
subjects. 

On  September  20,  1604,  Ostend,  a  mere  heap  of 
ruins,  capitulated  after  a  siege  of  three  years.  In 
the  next  campaigns  nothing  that  military  genius 
could  effect  against  an  adversary  scarcely  less  able 
was  left  undone  by  Spinola.  He  freely  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  vast  wealth,  14,000,000  gold 
crowns,  in  the  service  he  had  entered  as  a  volunteer, 
yet,  although  he  won  some  battles  and  took  some 
fortresses,  no  real  progress  was  made  towards  the 
conquest  of  the  revolted  provinces,  while  every  part 
of  the  Spanish  Empire  was  suffering  from  the  per- 
sistent and  successful  maritime  war  waged  by  the 
Dutch.  The  state  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  was 
deplorable.  On  the  northern  frontier  the  land  was 
desolate  for  miles  ;  grass  grew  in  the  streets  of 
Ghent  and  Bruges,  the  quays  of  Antwerp  were 
deserted.  Nor  were  the  Dutch  unwilling  to  treat. 
The  load  of  taxation  borne  by  the  country  was  very 


424  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1599- 

heavy,  and  if  the  prosperity  of  the  traders  and  of 
the  maritime  poptdation  increased,  the  sufferings  of 
the  agricultural  population  were  great.  Moreover, 
a  powerful  party  desired  peace,  because  they  were 
jealous  of  the  almost  regal  authority  of  Prince 
Maurice,  to  which,  while  the  war  lasted,  they  must 
needs  submit. 

Some  overtures  were  made  by  Archduke  Albert 
as  early  as  1603,  but  it  was  not  till  four  years  later 
that  negotiations  for  peace  were  opened  in  regular 
form.  After  the  great  preliminary  difficulty,  the 
recognition  of  the  United  Provinces  as  free  and 
sovereign  States  had  been  overcome,  and  a  truce  for 
eight  months  concluded,  it  was  very  unlikely  that 
hostilities  would  again  be  resumed.  Henry  IV. 
would  have  preferred  the  war  to  drag  on  till  the 
time  was  ripe  for  him  to  avenge  himself  and  Europe 
on  the  House  of  Austria.  But  if  the  Dutch  would 
not  continue  the  struggle  without  more  help  than  it 
was  convenient  for  him  to  give,  then  the  best  he 
could  do  was  to  secure  their  gratitude  by  taking  an 
active  and  friendly  part  in  the  negotiations,  and  by 
protecting  them  against  any  treachery  or  double 
dealing  intended  by  the  common  enemy.  He 
accordingly  sent  President  Jeannin  to  attend  the 
Conference  at  the  Hague  as  his  representative,  and 
concluded  a  defensive  alliance  with  the  United 
Provinces,  which  was  to  come  into  force  immediately 
after  the  conclusion  of  peace  (January,  1608). 

The  Nuncio  and  some  of  the  Jesuits  about  the 
French  Court  assured  the  Spanish  Government,  that 
Henry  IV.  might  be   induced  not  only   to  abandon 


1609]        Conspiracus  of  the  Efitr agues.         425 

the  Dutch  but  even  to  turn  his  arms  against  them, 
if  his  daughter  were  betrothed  to  the  second  son  of 
Phihp  III.  and  the  sovereignty  of  a  re-united  and 
CathoHc  Netherlands  secured  to  them  after  the  death 
of  Archduke  Albert.  Encouraged  by  the  Pope, 
Philip  III.  sent  Don  Pedro  of  Toledo,  a  grandee  of 
the  highest  rank  and  a  cousin  of  Mary  of  Medici,  as 
his  ambassador  to  Paris,  to  propose  a  close  alliance 
between  the  two  Courts,  cemented  by  a  double  mar- 
riage between  the  royal  children.  Such  an  arrange- 
ment would  have  been  as  acceptable  to  the  Catholic 
party,  the  former  Leaguers,  in  the  Council,  as  to  the 
Queen.  They  saw  that  the  nearer  the  time  drew 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  King's  anti-Spanish 
designs  the  more  he  inclined  to  the  Protestants. 
Old  Huguenots  like  Aubigne,  began  to  be  seen 
about  the  Court ;  and  it  was  felt  that  when  once 
Henry,  as  the  head  of  a  Protestant  coalition,  had 
drawn  the  sword  against  the  dynasty,  whose  cause 
was  identified  with  that  of  Romanism,  he  must,  of 
necessity,  be  led  farther  in  the  same  direction.  The 
situation,  was  not  unlike  that  before  the  massacre  of 
Bartholomew,  when  the  adoption  by  Charles  IX.  of 
the  policy  of  Coligny,  the  declaration  of  war  against 
Spain,  would  have  been  followed  by  the  triumph  of 
the  Protestants  and  of  their  friends  in  the  royal 
council. 

But  Henry  IV.  could  not  be  tempted,  by  a  bait 
more  glittering  than  substantial,  to  change  the  whole 
of  his  policy  :  to  abandon  his  cherished  hope  of  so 
humbling  the  Hapsburgs  that  their  ambition  should 
never  again  be  dangerous  to  France  or  Europe.     He 


426  He7iry  of  Navarre. 


[1599 


was  asked  forthwith  to  abandon  and  attack  his  allies, 
but  the  price  of  his  dishonour  was  future  and  con- 
tingent. When  Don  Pedro  at  his  first  audience  said 
that  his  master  would  gladly  negotiate  on  the  basis 
of  the  proposals  made  to  him  for  a  double  marriage, 
Henry  indignantly  interrupted  him.  "  What  pro- 
posals?" he  had  made  none  himself  and  would 
sooner  lose  his  hand  than  be  false  to  his  allies ! 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  Castilian  bent  his  pride  to 
flattery.  Taking  the  King's  sword  from  a  page  he 
kissed  it,  saying  that  he  now  was  a  happy  man,  since 
he  had  held  in  his  hands  the  sword  of  the  bravest 
King  in  the  world  :  threats  availed  even  less.  When 
Don  Pedro  exclaimed,  in  the  heat  of  dispute,  that 
the  King,  by  helping  the  Dutch,  might  provoke 
Philip  III.  to  assist  French  malcontents,  Henry 
burst  forth  :  "  Let  your  master  have  a  care,  I  should 
be  in  the  saddle  before  his  foot  touched  the 
stirrup," 

Don  Pedro  remained  eight  months  in  France 
courted  by  the  Queen  and  doing  his  best  to  fan 
once  more  the  old  embers  of  the  League  into  a 
blaze.  Again  the  drum  ecclesiastic  was  beaten  in 
the  Parisian  pulpits  and  again  the  piety  of  the  mob 
made  the  streets  unsafe  to  the  Huguenots.  Again 
the  Guises  began  to  cabal  and  to  complain  of  the 
harshness  with  which  the  King  exacted  the  price  of 
Mercceur's  pardon,  the  hand  of  his  daughter  for 
the  Duke  of  Vendome.  Nothing  availed  to  force 
the  Spanish  alliance  on  Henry,  or  to  save  Spain 
from  the  humiliation  of  recognising  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  little  country  which  for  forty  years  had 


t609]         Conspiracies  of  the  Entragucs.         427 

successfully  defied  the  efforts  of  the  greatest  and 
wealthiest  empire  the  world  had  seen  since  the  first 
barbarian  hordes  crossed  the  Roman  frontiers. 
Owing  in  great  measure  to  the  skilful  diplomacy  of 
Jeannin,  supported  by  the  English  envoys,  a  treaty 
was  signed  (April  9,  1609)  between  Philip  III.  and 
the  Dutch,  which  recognised  the  independence  of 
the  United  Provinces  and  secured  to  them  the  right 
of  trading  to  all  parts  of  the  Indies  not  actually 
occupied  by  the  Spaniards.  It  was  an  empty  con- 
cession to  Spanish  pride  that  the  treaty  took  the 
form  of  a  twelve  year's  truce  and  not  of  a  perpetual 
peace. 


•"^: 


CHAPTER   XI. 

COMPLICATIONS   IN  GERMANY — PREPARATIONS  FOR 
WAR — ASSASSINATION   OF   THE   KING. 


1609-1610. 

IVEN  before  peace  had  been  concluded 
at  The  Hague  it  had  become  clear 
that  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  in 
Germany  could  not  be  long  delayed. 
The  Peace  of  Augsburg  (1555)  had 
been  nothing  more  than  a  temporary 
acquiescence  on  the  part  of  both  sides  in  the  status 
quo,  a  truce  which  could  not  be  lasting.  The 
struggle  had  been  too  equal.  Both  sides  were 
irritated,  neither  convinced  that  in  a  second  trial  of 
strength  they  might  not  be  able  to  overwhelm  their 
opponents.  Hardly  any  circumstance  likely  to  pro- 
voke and  embitter  the  conflict  was  wanting.  There 
were  dynastic  jealousies  and  feuds,  a  universal  sense 
of  uneasiness  and  insecurity,  theological  odium.  On 
both  sides  the  confident  assurance  of  foreign  support ; 
on  both  violations  or  evasions  of  the  terms  of  a  com- 
promise purposely    ambiguous,  and   pregnant    with 

428 


Complications  in   Germany.  429 

disputes  more  dangerous  than  those  which  it  was 
supposed  to  settle. 

The  Protestants,  who,  during  the  tolerant  reign  of 
Maximilian  II.  had  appeared  likely  to  become  as 
predominant  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia  and  southern 
Germany  as  in  the  north,  were  alarmed  by  the  rapid 
progress  of  the  Counter  Reformation.  The  Jesuits 
—  Viscera  inagnaruin  domiiiim  dominique futiiri — were 
all  powerful  in  the  Courts  of  Vienna  and  Munich.  In 
the  Austrian  and  Bavarian  dominions,  in  most  of  the 
ecclesiastical  principalities  of  southern  and  in  many 
of  those  of  northwestern  Germany  the  Lutherans 
were  obliged  either  to  submit  to  persecution  or  to 
conceal  their  dissent.  The  Imperial  law  courts,  the 
only  remaining  centre  of  national  unity,  became 
violently  orthodox  and  partial. 

The  threatening  attitude  of  the  Emperor  Rudolph 
convinced  the  Protestant  Princes  that  it  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  they  should  unite  for  their 
common  defence.  In  1601  a  first  defensive  alliance 
was  concluded  between  the  Elector  Palatine,  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse 
and  some  others. 

In  1605  the  Protestants  of  Hungary  and  Transyl- 
vania allied  themselves  with  the  Turks  against  their 
persecuting  sovereign.  The  revolt  spread  into  the 
hereditary  dominions  of  the  Hapsburgs.  Compelled 
by  necessity  and  by  the  unanimous  wish  of  his 
family,  the  Emperor,  whose  character  was  an 
unhappy  mixture  of  obstinacy  and  weakness,  of 
unbridled  sensuality,  degrading  superstition  and 
despondent  apathy,  allowed  his  far  more  able  and 


430  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

tolerant  brother  Matthias  to  exercise  a  temporary 
dictatorship  and  to  save  his  empire  by  well-timed 
concessions.  It  was  agreed  that  Matthias  should  be 
elected  King  of  the  Romans.  But  the  Ultramon- 
tanes  induced  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  a  man  of 
great  ambition  and  a  zealous  Catholic,  to  come  for- 
ward as  a  rival  candidate  to  his  cousin.  Rudolph 
also  refused  to  perform  the  engagements  entered  into 
in  his  name  by  Matthias,  who  thereupon  with  an 
Austrian,  Hungarian  and  Moravian  army,  marched 
upon  Prague  where  the  Emperor  was  and  extorted 
the  cession  of  half  of  his  dominions  and  a  promise 
of  the  reversion  of  the  remainder.  Since  Matthias 
owed  his  success  to  the  support  of  the  Protestants, 
he  was  compelled  to  grant  them  toleration  in  the 
countries  of  which  he  became  the  ruler  (summer  of 
1608). 

At  the  diet  held  in  the  beginning  of  1608,  the 
Protestants  demanded  the  reform  of  the  Imperial 
courts,  and  an  explicit  renewal  of  the  Religious 
Peace  to  be  promulgated  in  a  more  comprehensive 
form  ;  and  when  their  demands  were  rejected  they 
left  the  diet  in  a  body. 

After  so  open  a  schism  the  outbreak  of  war  sooner 
or  later  was  certain,  and  a  new  and  larger  Union  of 
Protestant  Princes  was  at  once  formed.  The  lead- 
ing spirit  of  this  confederation  was  Prince  Christian 
of  Anhalt,  a  former  officer  and  friend  of  Henry  IV. 
Saxony  stood  aloof,  but  all  the  other  Protestant 
Princes  and  many  of  the  Free  Cities  joined  the  Union. 

The  domestic  dissensions  of  the  Hapsburgs  ;  the 
imbecility  of  the   Emperor,  who  was  sinking  into  a. 


1610]  Complications  in   Germany.  431 

state  of  furious  melancholy ;  the  Protestant  reaction 
in  the  Austrian  provinces  and  Hungary  ;  the  alliance 
of  the  Protestant  States  of  the  Empire,  were  circum- 
stances which  could  not  but  suggest  to  Henry  IV. 
that  the  time  had  come  when  a  fatal  blow  might  be 
struck  at  the  Atistro-Spanish  power.  In  the  next 
year  (March  25,  1609)  an  event  happened  certain  to 
precipitate  the  struggle  for  which  both  sides  were 
now  more  or  less  prepared.  John  William,  Duke  of 
Cleves,  Juliers  and  Berg,  died  childless.  The  Elector 
of  Brandenburg  and  the  Count  Palatine  of  Neuburg 
were  the  nearest  heirs,  claiming  through  the  two 
eldest  sisters  of  the  late  Duke.  But  the  Emperor 
maintained  that  the  Duchies  were  male  fiefs,  which 
could  only  descend  in  the  direct  male  line,  while  the 
Saxon  princes  appealed  to  old  instruments,  con- 
firmed by  the  Imperial  courts,  which  secured  to 
them  the  reversion  of  the  possessions  of  the  House 
of  Cleves. 

The  question  of  the  succession  to  the  dominions 
of  the  Duke  of  Cleves  was  one  of  vital  importance. 
Lying  as  they  did  along  the  lower  Rhine  and  close 
to  Belgium  and  Holland,  in  the  hands  of  a  Catholic 
like  the  late  Duke,  they  connected  the  bishoprics 
of  Munster,  Paderborn  and  Hildesheim  with  the 
ecclesiastical  electorates  and  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands thus  interrupting  the  communications  of  the 
Protestants  of  Central  Germany  with  the  Dutch. 
That  they  should  pass  into  the  hands  of  a  Protestant 
would  be  a  fatal  blow  to  the  Catholics  of  northern 
Germany  and  would  threaten  the  security  of  the 
Spanish  Netherlands. 


432  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

Aware  of  the  advantages  of  possession,  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  Count  Palatine  of 
Neuburg  had  at  once  endeavoured  to  occupy  the 
Duchies.  They  would  have  come  to  blows  in  the 
process,  had  not  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  persuaded 
them  to  govern  the  country  jointly-until  their  claims 
could  be  submitted  to  arbitration  or  otherwise  de- 
cided. The  Emperor  cited  the  claimants  to  appear 
before  his  Court,  and,  since  the  "  Possessioners,"  as 
they  were  called,  paid  no  attention  to  the  summons, 
he  put  them  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire  and 
ordered  the  Archduke  Leopold  to  take  possession  of 
the  territory  as  Imperial  Commissioner. 

On  the  very  day  on  which  Henry  IV.  heard  oi  the 
death  of  the  Duke  of  Cleves,  he  wrote  to  Jeannin, 
then  at  The  Hague,  that  the  Emperor  would  without 
doubt  try  to  seize  the  fortresses  of  the  Duchies  and 
to  possess  himself  of  at  least  the  better  part  of  the 
territory,  but  that  he  was  determined  not  to  allov,' 
any  such  addition  to  the  power  of  the  House  of 
Austria ;  and  that  if  war  came  he  would  wage  it  in 
no  half-hearted  fashion.  Jeannin  in  reply  told  him 
that  Barneveld,  the  leader  of  the  peace-party  in  the 
United  Provinces,  had  assured  him  that  if  the  King 
of  France  took  up  the  cause  of  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  the  claimant  whose  title  appeared 
strongest,  the  Dutch  would  stand  by  him  against  no 
matter  whom.  Neither  France  nor  Holland  could 
permit  Spain  and  Austria  to  establish  themselves 
at  their  gates  in  a  position  which  commanded  the 
Rhine. 

Archduke  Albert  desirous  of  peace,  and  well  aware 


16101  Co?npiications  in   Gerf7zany.  433 

that  Henry  IV.  and  his  allies,  if  victorious,  were 
likely  to  seek  an  indemnity  at  his  expense,  proposed 
that  the  Germans  should  be  left  to  fight  out  their 
own  quarrels.  He  would  not  interfere,  and  he  would 
also  persuiade  his  brother-in-law  Philip  HI.  to  remain 
neutral.  Henry  replied,  the  Archdukes  might  please 
themselves,  but  that  whatever  happened  he  was  de- 
termined to  help  his  friends.  Even  the  pacific  James 
I.  announced  his  intention  of  joining  with  France 
and  Holland  in  defence  of  Protestant  Germany 
against  Austria  and  Spain ;  but  since  the  conti- 
nental powers  were  more  directly  interested  than 
England,  it  was  for  them  to  make  the  first  move. 
In  Italy,  Charles  Emmanuel  was  now  the  zealous 
ally  of  France.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  that 
the  hereditary  ambition  of  his  family  could  not  be 
satisfied  west  of  the  Alps.  As  the  reward  of 
his  help  in  driving  the  Spaniards  out  of  Italy  he 
hoped  to  receive  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  and  the 
title  of  a  King  of  Lombardy.  It  was  thought  that 
the  prospect  of  annexing  Naples  to  the  patrimony 
of  St.  Peter  might  induce  the  Pope  to  join  the 
league  against  Spain.  The  island  of  Sicily  was  to 
be  the  price  of  the  active  co-operation  of  Venice. 
Henry  had  wisely  abandoned  the  idea  of  any  terri- 
torial aggrandisement  in  Italy,  but  there  was  an  un- 
derstanding that  Charles  Emmanuel,  if  he  received 
Lombardy,  should  cede  Savoy  and  Nice  to  France. 
The  King  was  very  far  from  intending  to  go  to  war 
for  an  idea,  as  some  of  the  panegyrists  of  his  disin- 
terested policy  would  have  us  believe,  or  if  for  an  idea, 

it  was  for  that   idea   of   nationality   which  has  since 
28 


434  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

his  time  so  often  provided  a  useful  excuse  for  dynas- 
tic ambition.  "  I  am  well  content,"  he  said,  "  that 
every  place  where  Spanish  is  spoken  should  belong  to 
Spain,  where  German  is  spoken  to  Germany.  But 
every  land  where  the  French  tongue  is  used,  ought 
to  be  mine."  No  doubt  he  hoped  ultimately  to 
overcome  the  objections  of  England  to  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  Walloon  Provinces,  and  of  the  Swiss  to 
that  of  Franche-Comte,  and  to  secure  the  possession 
of  Lorraine  by  the  projected  marriage  of  the 
Dauphin  to  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  the  Duke. 

Meantime  (August,  1609),  by  the  connivance  of 
the  commander  of  the  garrison,  Archduke  Leopold 
had  obtained  possession  of  the  strongly  fortified 
town  of  Juliers,  and  began  to  carry  on  desultory 
hostilities  with  the  Possessioners.  But  with  a  few 
troops  supplied  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Electors  and 
some  other  Catholic  Princes  he  could  efTect  little. 
The  Austrian  Princes  were  engrossed  by  their  family 
dissensions,  and  the  Spaniards  were  fully  occupied 
by  the  expulsions  of  the  Moriscos,  the  most  costly 
and  suicidal  act  of  bigotry  and  folly  ever  perpetrated 
even  by  that  fanatical  and  shortsighted  Government. 
There  was  therefore  abundant  time  for  Henry  to 
complete  his  negotiations  and  preparations  before 
he  began  the  war. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  a  congress  of  the  Princes 
of  the  Protestant  Union  to  be  attended  by  the  en- 
voys of  France  should  meet  at  Hall  in  Swabia  at  the 
beginning  of  the  next  year  (January,  1610).  Until 
then  nothing  was  decided.  Many  about  the  King 
were   averse   to  war  and  in  favour  of  a  compromise, 


1610]  Complications  in  Germany.  435 

some  because  war  increased  the  influence  of  their 
rivals,  others  because  they  beheved  that  under  ex- 
isting circumstances  the  King  of  Spain  and  the 
Emperor  would  be  found  ready  to  grant  everything 
that  could  reasonably  be  demanded. 

Spanish  influence  was  in  the  ascendant  at  the 
Court  of  Florence,  and  the  Tuscan  ambassador  con- 
firmed Mary  of  Medici  in  her  opposition  to  her 
husband's  policy.  Nor  were  his  allies  as  forward  as 
he  had  hoped.  Venice  displayed  her  usual  caution. 
The  Pope  could  hardly  fail  to  see  that  the  success 
of  Henry  IV.  would  mean  a  check  to  the  future  pro- 
gress of  orthodoxy,  possibly  the  total  ruin  of  the 
German  church.  In  short  the  only  certain  allies  of 
France  in  Italy  were  Savoy  and  Mantua.  James  I., 
the  Dutch  and  the  German  Princes  were  unwilling 
to  do  more  than  defend  the  rights  of  the  Posses- 
sioners.  It  was  therefore  believed  that  a  peaceable 
solution  was  not  impossible  when  an  event  occurred 
which  has  been  said  to  have  determined  Henry  to 
draw  the  sword. 

It  has  pleased  those  writers  who  are  attracted  by 
the  romantic  in  history  or  who  love  to  deduce  great 
events  from  the  trivial  accidents  of  our  physical  ex- 
istence, to  expatiate  at  length  on  the  story  of  Henry 
IV^'s  unseemly  passion  for  Charlotte  de  Montmo- 
rency, and  although  it  may  not  have  materially 
affected  the  course  of  events,  we  cannot  well  pass  it 
by  in  silence.  It  discredited  the  King's  policy  by 
enabling  his  enemies  to  represent  it  as  swayed  by 
personal  and  unworthy  motives,  and  it  affords  an 
impressive  warning  that  if  we  indulge  our  pleasant 


43^  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

vices  we  may  become  their  unhappy  and  degraded 
slaves 

As  Henry  grew  older,  the  private  history  of  his 
life  became  neither  more  edifying  nor  less  eventful. 
Henriette  d'Entragues,  notwithstanding  her  infideli- 
ties, her  treasonable  intrigues,  her  bitter  tongue, — 
she  spoke  to  the  King,  it  was  said,  not  as  to  an  equal, 
but  as  to  her  footman, — and  her  scarcely  concealed 
aversion,  continued  the  reigning  favourite.  The 
Duke  of  Guise  and  the  Prince  of  Joinville  were 
among  her  admirers  and  she  was  not  without  hopes 
of  terminating  a  distasteful  connection  by  a  splendid 
marriage.  There  are  few  things  more  pitiable  than 
the  letters  in  which  the  King  by  mingling  threats 
and  cajolery  seeks  to  overcome  the  coldness  of  his 
mistress.  Nor  were  his  relations  with  the  other 
ladies  who  shared  his  favour  more  dignified.  Not 
one  of  them  seems  to  have  felt  any  real  affection  for 
him.  They  laughed  at  him  behind  his  back  with 
the  young  courtiers  and  nobles  who  were  his  fortu- 
nate rivals.  He  complained  that  his  married  life  was 
a  hell  upon  earth  ;  that  his  wife  was  entirely  ruled 
by  Concini  and  Leonora,  who  in  everything  incited 
her  to  oppose  his  wishes.  But  conscious  of  his  own 
shortcomings  he  did  not  dare  to  insist  that  the  mis- 
chievous couple  should  be  sent  back  to  Italy. 

In  one  respect  only,  Mary  de'  Medici  fulfilled  his 
expectations.  In  nine  years  she  bore  him  six  chil- 
dren. There  was  no  longer  any  danger  that  a  direct 
heir  to  the  Crown  would  not  be  forthcoming.  Henry 
IV.  playing  with  his  children  is  a  familiar  figure  in 
popular  history,  and   no  doubt  he  was  in  his  way  an 


1610]  Complicatiojis  in   Germany.  437 

affectionate  father.  But  there  was  a  marvellous  ab- 
sence of  decorum  and  discipline  in  the  royal  nursery 
at  St.  Germains,  where  his  legitimate  and  illegitimate 
offspring  were  brought  up  under  the  supervision  of 
a  Mme.  de  Monglat,  a  respectable  but  not  overwise 
woman. 

One  afternoon  towards  the  beginning  of  1609,  the 
King  passing  through  a  gallery  of  the  Louvre  found 
a  bevy  of  young  ladies  practising  for  a  ballet,  nymphs 
of  Diana  armed  for  the  chase.  As  he  came  by,  one 
of  these,  a  girl  of  fifteen,  raised  her  javelin  as  if  in 
acr  to  strike.  Such  was  her  grace,  her  beauty  and 
the  magic  of  her  eyes  that  Henry  seemed  to  himself 
to  be  pierced  to  the  heart  and  about  to  faint. 

The  nymph  was  Charlotte  de  Montmorency,  one 
of  the  two  children  born  to  the  Constable  by  his 
second  wife,  a  woman  of  middling  birth,  who,  it  was 
whispered,  owed  to  some  supernatural  agency  her 
wondrous  loveliness  and  the  splendid  marriage  it 
enabled  her  to  make.  She  died  young,  some  said 
the  demon  had  been  an  impatient  creditor,  leaving 
two  children  the  inheritors  of  her  charms,  Charlotte, 
and  a  boy  whose  death  on  the  scaffold  was  to  be  the 
most  impressive  object  lesson  given  to  the  French 
nobility  before  the  Revolution. 

Mile,  de  Montmorency  was  betrothed,  with  the 
King's  approval,  to  Francis  de  Bassompierre,  a  young 
noble  of  Lorraine  whose  graces  and  good  looks  had 
acquired  the  King's  favour,  and  who,  though  barely 
twenty,  was  the  gayest  gallant  and  most  accom- 
plished lady-killer  of  the  Court. 

Shortly  after  this  passing  encounter  the  King  was 


438  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

laid  up  by  an  attack  of  gout.  By  day  he  meditated 
on  the  incomparable  charms  of  Charlotte  de  Mont- 
morency, who  more  than  once  accompanied  her 
aunt,  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  on  a  visit  to  his 
sick  room.  By  night  his  attendants  endeavoured  to 
soothe  his  pain  by  reading  aloud  the  romances  which 
were  then  thrilling  the  polite  world.  The  intermina- 
ble rhapsodies  of  the  lovesick  shepherds  and  shep- 
herdesses, the  quintessential  sentiment,  the  Platonic 
gallantries  of  the  Astree,  weigh  like  the  drowsiest  of 
opiates  on  the  eyelids  of  the  few  who  now  open 
the  dusty  volumes  of  M.  d'Urfe.  But  they  pro- 
foundly stirred  the  fancy  of  the  King.  Perhaps  just 
because  there  could  be  no  greater  contrast  than  that 
between  his  own  life  of  active  adventure,  varied  by 
realistic  amours,  and  the  ideal  world  of  vaporous 
sentiment  and  alembicated  passion  to  which  he  was 
introduced.  Thus  two  centuries  later  the  Corsican 
ogre  sympathised  with  the  sorrows  of  Werther  and 
the  perplexities  of  Pamela. 

As  the  paroxysm  of  his  gout  abated  Henry  felt 
that  a  new  and  delightful  sensation  might  be  found 
in  a  pure  and  romantic,  but  not  unrequited  passion 
for  the  girlish  bride  of  his  favourite.  Bassompierre 
was  summoned,  and  as  he  knelt  by  the  royal  bed- 
side listened  with  surprised  dismay  to  the  communi- 
cation made  to  him.  His  master  confessed  that  he 
was  desperately  in  love  with  the  Constable's  daugh- 
ter and  therefore  asked  him  to  give  up  the  projected 
marriage.  If  the  fair  Charlotte  became  Bassom- 
pierre's  wife  and  loved  him,  he,  the  King,  would  hate 
the  happy  husband  ;    if  she  loved  the  King,  her  hus- 


(6101  Complications  in   Germany.  439 

band  would  hate  the  King.  In  either  case  there 
would  be  enmity  between  them.  Henry  said  he  in- 
tended to  marry  her  to  the  Prince  of  Conde,  who 
scarcely  cared  for  anything  but  hunting,  and  for 
nothing  less  than  ladies'  society.  He  would  keep 
her  about  the  Court  and  find  in  a  tender  and  mutual, 
but  pure,  attachment  the  delight  and  solace  of  that 
old  age  which  he  felt  to  be  creeping  on  him.  Bas- 
sompierre  informs  us  in  his  memoirs  that  his  love 
was  as  warm  as  the  chilling  prospect  of  marriage 
would  allow,  and  the  connection  with  the  Mont- 
morencys  was  too  flattering  and  advantageous  to  be 
foregone  without  regret.  But  he  saw  at  once  that 
the  King  was  determined,  that  unless  he  yielded 
with  a  good  grace  he  would  lose  both  his  bride  and 
the  royal  favour.  In  short  the  lover  sighed,  but  the 
courtier  obeyed,  and  had  his  reward  in  the  embraces 
and  flattering  promises  of  the  King.  But  on  this 
occasion  at  least  we  heartily  sympathise  with  Char- 
lotte, who  when  informed  of  the  change  that  had 
been  made  in  the  disposition  of  her  hand,  passed  by 
her  too  facile  lover  with  a  shrug  and  a  glance  that 
sent  him  in  grief  and  mortification  to  his  room 
where,  he  assures  us,  he  spent  three  days  without 
food  or  sleep. 

The  plan  arranged  by  the  King  was  far  from  an- 
swering his  expectations.  Conde,  it  is  true,  grate- 
fully accepted  the  King's  pension  and  appeared  to 
be  far  more  interested  in  his  wife's  dowry  than  in 
her  person.  But  when  he  clearly  understood  the 
part  it  was  intended  that  he  should  play,  when  he  saw 
the  King  who  was  usually  plain    in   dress  and  pain- 


440  Henry  of  N'avarre.  [I609- 

fully  neglectful  of  his  person,  powdered  and  scented 
and  vying  in  silks  and  satins  with  his  courtiers,  when 
he  found  that  his  wife  was  not  only  receiving  but 
replying  to  the  passionate  elegies  and  sonnets  com- 
posed for  their  master's  use  by  Malherbe  and  other 
rhymesters  of  the  Court,  then,  in  the  King's  phrase 
he  began  "  to  play  the  devil,"  and  after  some  angry 
scenes  in  which  Henry  entirely  lost  all  sense  of  dig- 
nity and  decorum,  as  well  as  his  temper,  carried  of^ 
the  Princess  to  a  castle  not  far  from  the  Flemish 
frontier.  The  King  followed  his  mistress,  and 
dressed  as  one  of  his  own  huntsmen  stood  with  a 
patch  over  his  eye  by  the  roadside  to  see  her  pass. 
He  penetrated  in  the  same  disguise  into  the  court- 
yard of  a  house  where  she  was  dining  and  when  she 
appeared  at  a  window  kissed  one  hand  to  her,  while 
he  pressed  the  other  to  his  heart.  The  extravagance 
of  such  behaviour  must  have  delighted  the  malice 
of  his  enemies,  but  we  almost  forget  it  in  our  disgust 
at  the  baseness  of  the  dowager  Princess  of  Conde, 
and  of  the  Constable,  Duke  of  Montmorency,  who 
were  willing  to  gain  the  royal  favour  at  the  price  of 
their  daughter's  honour. 

At  length  (30th  November,  1609)  Conde  finding 
himself  betrayed  by  those  who  had  most  reason  to 
be  true  to  him,  fled  hastily  with  his  wife  across  the 
frontier,  apparently  intending,  as  he  professed,  to 
place  her  in  the  care  of  his  sister,  the  Princess  of 
Orange  at  Breda.  When  Henry  heard  of  his  cousin's 
flight  his  dismay  and  confusion  were  extreme.  He 
at  once  summoned  his  most  trusted  advisers,  the 
Chancellor  (Brulart  de    Sillery),    Villeroy,  Jeannin. 


1610]  Complications  in   Germaiiy.  441 

One  had  proposed  this,  another  that,  when  Sully 
reached  the  scene  of  the  discussion,  the  bedroom  of 
Mary  de'  Medici,  whose  last  child,  the  ill-starred 
Henrietta  Maria,  had  been  born  a  few  days  previ- 
ously. As  soon  as  the  King  saw  Sully  he  went  up 
to  him  :  "  M.  de  Sully,  the  Prince  is  gone  and  has 
taken  his  wife  with  him." — "  Well,  Sire,  if  you  had 
followed  my  advice  and  locked  him  up  in  the  Bas- 
tille, you  would  know  where  to  find  him." — "The 
thing  is  done  ;  it  is  no  use  talking  like  that.  The 
question  is,  what  am  I  to  do  now  ?  " — "  Let  me  go 
back  to  the  Arsenal,  sup  and  sleep  upon  it,  and  then 
I  shall  perhaps  have  some  good  advice  to  give  you." — 
"  No,  no,  I  want  it  at  once."  Upon  this  the  Duke 
turned  away,  and  after  drumming  some  time  on  the 
window  turned  round  and  came  towards  the  King. 
"Well,  have  you  thought  of  something?" — "Yes." 
— "  What  then  ought  we  to  do  ?  " — "  Nothing." 
"What,  nothing?" — "Yes,  nothing.  If  you  do 
nothing  at  all  and  appear  quite  indifferent,  no  one 
will  think  anything  of  the  Prince,  or  help  him,  and 
in  three  months  he  will  be  reduced  to  sue  for  terms. 
But  if  you  show  your  anxiety  and  your  eagerness  to 
get  him  back,  he  will  be  thought  much  of,  and 
assisted  with  money.  Many  will  be  ready  to  sup- 
port him  to  spite  you,  who,  if  you  disregard  him, 
will  take  no  notice  of  him." 

Sully's  good  advice  did  not  suit  the  excited  mood 
of  the  King.  Messengers  were  despatched  in  every 
direction  to  intercept  the  Prince  if  possible,  and  as 
there  was  no  doubt  that  he  must  at  least  pass 
through  the  Netherlands,  a  special  envoy  was  sent 


442  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

denouncing  him  as  a  traitor  and  enemy  to  the  public 
peace  and  asking  the  Archdukes  to  permit  his  arrest, 
or  at  least  not  to  grant  him  a  refuge  in  their  domin- 
ions. No  incident  could  have  been  less  to  the  taste 
of  the  Infanta  and  her  husband.  They  were  sincerely 
desirous  of  peace  and  anxious  to  give  no  offence  to 
their  powerful  neighbour,  and  it  must  be  allowed 
that  their  conduct  in  the  whole  affair  was  conciliatory 
as  well  as  dignified  and  honourable.  Archduke 
Albert  said  that  Conde  had  asked  his  permission  to 
travel  through  his  dominions  with  his  wife,  in  order 
that  they  might  visit  their  sister  the  Princess  of 
Orange,  that  he  could  not  violate  the  safe  conduct 
he  had  given,  but  that  the  Prince  would  not  be 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  country. 

Cond6  thought  it  more  prudent  to  send  his  wife 
on  alone  to  Brussels,  where  she  lived  in  the  palace 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  while  he  himself  hurried  to 
Cologne.  It  was  only  after  Henry  had  asked  the 
Archduke  to  use  his  influence  to  persuade  his  cousin 
to  return  to  France,  that  he  was  permitted  to  come 
to  Brussels,  where  his  hosts  did  their  utmost  to  effect 
a  reconciliation  between  him  and  the  King.  Spinola 
and  the  Spanish  ambassador  were  less  nervous  about 
offending  the  King  of  France,  more  desirous  of  re- 
taining such  an  instrument  of  annoyance  against  him 
as  Conde  was  likely  to  prove.  For  although  his 
personal  qualities  were  below  mediocrity,  he  was  the 
first  Prince  of  the  Blood  and  next  in  the  succession 
to  the  King's  children,  and  he  bore  a  name  which 
could  not  but  endear  him  to  the  Protestants.  If 
Henry  persisted  in  his  hostile  projects  against  Spain, 


16101  Preparations  for    War.  443 

Conde  might  be  used  to  excite  troubles  in  France, 
while  in  the  event  of  negotiations  his  extradition 
was  a  concession  which  costing  Uttle  might  be  dearly 
sold.  He  was  accordingly  encouraged  to  hurry 
secretly  to  Milan,  where  he  was  sumptuously  enter- 
tained in  the  Ducal  palace. 

Before  leaving  Brussels  the  Prince  had  seen  his 
wife  safely  lodged  under  the  roof  of  the  Archdukes. 
A  plot  for  her  escape  concerted  before  his  departure 
between  her  and  the  emissaries  of  her  royal  lover  had 
been  betrayed  by  Henry's  inability  to  conceal  his 
joyous  anticipations.  His  disappointment  when, 
after  leaving  Paris  with  four  coaches,  he  met  on  the 
road  from  Flanders  (February  15,  1610),  not  his 
nymph,  but  a  messenger  who  brought  the  news  of 
failure,  was  even  greater  and  more  open.  '*  I  am  so 
shrunk  with  my  worries,"  he  wrote  to  one  of  his 
agents  at  Brussels,  "  that  I  am  nothing  but  skin  and 
bones.  Everything  disgusts  me.  I  fly  society,  and 
if  out  of  civility  I  allow  myself  to  be  led  into  any 
company  my  wretchedness  is  completed." 

Although  she  was  treated  with  extreme  kindness 
by  the  Infanta  neither  Spanish  devotion  nor  etiquette 
were  to  the  taste  of  Charlotte  de  Montmorency. 
Her  French  attendants  were  gained  by  the  King 
and  enlarged  on  the  triumph  and  glories  of  which 
she  was  deprived  by  her  husband's  jealousy.  She 
stimulated  the  impatience  and  passion  of  her  royal 
lover  by  her  complaints  and  by  the  tenderness  of 
her  replies  to  his  letters.  The  Constable  repeatedly 
wrote,  as  he  was  instructed,  to  the  Archdukes,  beg- 
ging them    to  allow  his  daughter  to  return  to  him. 


444  Henry  of  Navarre.  11609 

They  replied  that  they  had  promised  the  Prince  to 
watch  over  his  wife  until  he  could  return  to  claim 
her,  and  that  they  might  not  with  honour  break  their 
word.  They  refused  to  entertain  Father  Cotton's 
suggestion  that  they  might  connive  at  her  escape, — 
a  persistence  most  creditable  to  them,  for  Cond6  had 
not  impressed  them  favourably  and  they  were  un- 
feignedly  anxious  to  do  nothing  which  might  lead 
to  a  war  with  France.  Henry  IV.  and  his  ministers 
did  their  utmost  to  persuade  them  that  peace  was 
impossible  unless  Charlotte  de  Montmorency  was 
given  up  to  her  father.  "  The  repose  of  Europe 
rests  in  your  master's  hands,"  said  President  Jeannin 
to  the  ambassador  of  the  Archduke.  "  Peace  and 
war  depend  on  whether  the  Princess  is  or  is  not 
given  up.  Everything  else  is  immaterial  "  ;  while 
the  King  reminded  him  that  Troy  fell  because  Priam 
would  not  send  Helen  back. 

It  would  be  a  dark  blot  on  the  fame  of  Henry  of 
Bourbon  were  it  true  that  he  was  prepared  to  begin 
a  war  which  was  likely  to  extend  its  ravages  into 
every  part  of  Europe,  not  in  order  that  he  might 
humble  a  power  which  had  persistently  pursued  the 
ruin  of  France,  which  had  incited  her  nobles  to 
treason,  her  mobs  to  revolution,  which  had  placed 
the  dagger  in  the  hands  of  numberless  assassins,  a 
power  whose  policy  was  identified  with  intolerance 
and  persecution  ;  not  in  order  that  he  might  roll 
back  the  wave  of  bigotry  and  oppression  that  threat- 
ened to  sweep  over  Germany  ;  not  in  order  that  he 
might  consolidate  the  power  of  France  by  uniting 
under  his  sceptre  the  whole   French-speaking  race ; 


1610]  Preparations  for    War.  445 

but  only  in  order  that  he  might  gratify  a  senile  and 
adulterous  passion.  But  we  are  glad  to  know  that 
twelve  years  of  persevering  negotiations  and  care- 
fully prepared  alliances  prove  that  this  was  not  so. 
The  episode  of  the  Princess  of  Conde  discredited  the 
King,  disturbed  his  serenity  of  mind,  distracted  his 
judgment  at  a  time  when  the  great  enterprise,  which 
he  was  about  to  take  in  hand,  required  that  he 
should  be  in  full  possession  of  all  the  powers  of  his 
intellect,  but  it  had  little  influence  on  the  course  of 
events.  The  King  and  his  ministers  used  the  large 
forces  assembled  for  quite  a  different  purpose,  as  a 
bugbear  to  frighten  the  Archdukes.  But  when  they 
refused  to  purchase  security  by  a  compliance  incon- 
sistent with  their  honour,  it  was  not  on  Brussels  that 
the  French  armies  prepared  to  march.  On  the  con- 
trary, four  days  before  his  death  (May  10,  1610),  the 
King  in  the  most  friendly  terms  asked  the  Archduke 
Albert's  permission  to  lead  his  army  across  his 
territory  to  the  assistance  of  his  German  allies  ;  a 
permission  granted  by  the  Archduke,  notwithstand- 
ing the  opposition  of  Spinola  and  of  the  Spanish 
party  in  his  Council. 

On  the  1st  April  (1610)  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
Don  Inigo  de  Cardenas,  demanded  an  audience  of 
the  King  to  inquire  into  the  object  of  his  armaments 
and  warlike  preparation  ;  since  they  were  far  more 
extensive  than  was  consistent  with  their  avowed 
object,  the  expulsion  of  the  Archduke  Leopold  from 
Juliers.  If  they  were  directed  against  the  Nether- 
lands, his  master  considered  the  interests  of  his 
sister    his    own.     Henry    in    reply    commended  the 


446  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

loving  care  of  Philip  III.  for  one  so  near  him  in 
blood  ;  but  added  that  it  was  a  pity  the  King  of 
Spain  had  so  much  superfluous  charity  left  to  bestow 
on  other  people's  relatives.  If  such  a  rebel  as  Conde 
had  fled  from  Spain  into  France,  he  would  soon  have 
sent  him  back.  Then  warming  to  his  theme,  he 
complained  of  the  part  played  by  Spain  in  the  con- 
spiracies of  Biron,  of  the  Entragues,  and  whenever 
else  there  was  an  opportunity  of  doing  him  an  in- 
jury. As  for  the  Archdukes,  it  was  true  they  had  at 
first  appeared  willing  to  act  the  part  of  friendly 
neighbours,  but  they  too  had  changed  their  tone  in 
obedience  to  orders  received  from  the  Escurial. 
Don  Inigo  after  pointing  out  in  reply  that  Henry 
had  helped  the  Dutch  and  shown  his  ill-will  to  the 
Spaniards  in  many  other  ways,  asked  categorically 
whether  it  was  against  the  King  his  master  that  so 
powerful  an  army  was  assembled.  "  I  arm  myself 
and  my  country,"  said  the  King,  "  to  protect  myself, 
and  I  have  taken  my  sword  in  hand  to  strike  those 
who  shall  give  me  cause." — "  What  then  shall  I  tell 
my  master?  " — "  Whatever  you  please." 

Thirty  thousand  infantry,  six  thousand  cavalry  were 
collecting  at  Chalons  and  the  King  had  proclaimed 
his  intention  of  himself  leading  them  to  the  Rhine, 
where,  according  to  a  treaty  concluded  at  Hall  (Jan- 
uary, 1610),  the  Princes  of  the  Protestant  Union  had 
promised  to  place  10,000  men  under  his  orders. 
The  Dutch  and  the  King  of  England  were  now,  as 
has  been  noticed,  disposed  to  hang  back,  but  it  was 
hoped  that  the  persuasion  of  Prince  Henry  of  Wales, 
who    dreamt    of    laurels  to  be   gathered    under  the 


teiO]  Preparations  for    War.  447 

auspices  of  the  victor  of  Coutras  and  Ivry,  and  the 
authority  of  Maurice  of  Nassau  would  prevail.  Fif- 
teen thousand  men  under  Lesdigui^res  were  waiting 
in  Dauphiny  to  join  the  army  of  the  Marshal's  old 
opponent,  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  in  the  invasion  of 
Lombardy,  and  although  the  Marquis  of  Mantua 
was  the  only  other  Italian  Prince  who  had  promised 
active  co-operation,  it  was  expected  that  certainly 
Venice,  and  possibly  the  Pope,  would  be  tempted  by 
the  prospect  of  large  and  easy  territorial  aggrandise- 
ment to  join  in  the  attack  on  Spain.  The  avowed 
intention  of  the  French  King  to  procure  the  election 
of  the  zealously  orthodox  Duke  of  Bavaria  as  King 
of  the  Romans,  might  convince  the  Holy  Father 
that  he  did  not  aim  at  the  ruin  of  the  Church  either 
in  Germany  or  elsewhere. 

Ten  thousand  men  commanded  by  the  Marquis  of 
La  Force  were  expecting  orders  to  cross  the  Pyre- 
nees and  to  assist  the  Moriscos  of  Aragon  and  Cata- 
lonia, who  were  being  driven  towards  the  frontier,  to 
recover  and  defend  their  homes.  It  was  thought 
that  the  Spanish  nobility  who  loudly  protested 
against  the  persecution  of  their  vassals,  would,  if 
they  did  not  help,  at  least  not  resist  the  invaders. 
If  this  diversion  did  not  suf^ce  to  prevent  Philip  III. 
from  sending  reinforcements  to  Italy  and  assisting 
his  Austrian  cousins,  a  larger  army  under  the  Duke 
of  Montbazon  might  invade  Spain  by  St.  Sebastian 
and  the  west. 

Henry  IV.  and  his  advisers  had  left  little  undone 
which  might  command  success  against  enemies  al- 
ready half  overthrown  by  their  own   errors  and  divi- 


44^  H^cnry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

sions,  yet  he  appeared  to  have  lost  his  joyous  elasticity 
of  spirits.  He,  whose  cheerful  countenance,  whose 
serene  and  gay  intrepidity  and  hopeful  self-reliance 
had  inspired  his  followers  with  confidence  whatever 
the  odds  they  faced,  did  not  himself  now  share  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  his  officers  and  soldiers  were 
preparing  for  a  campaign  in  which  victory  seemed 
easy.  Those  about  him  complained  that  he  had 
become  morose  and  irritable,  and  lamented  that  he 
should  be  thus  changed  by  the  violence  of  his  pas- 
sion for  the  Princess  of  Conde.  He  himself,  as  we 
have  seen,  attiibuted  his  melancholy  to  this  cause. 
But  he  had  other  and  juster  reasons  for  disquiet. 
He  was  too  humane  and  had  too  deep  a  sense  of  the 
value  of  peace  to  begin  so  great  a  war  with  a  light 
heart.  When  he  had  drawn  the  sword  before,  it  had 
been  in  self-defence  ;  but  now  he  was  the  aggressor, 
it  was  he  that  would  have  to  render  an  account  for 
the  bloodshed  and  misery  to  come.  Besides  he  had 
too  much  experience  not  to  know  thai;  the  most  care- 
ful precautions,  the  most  artful  combinations  avail 
nothing  against  the  insolent  caprice  of  fortune.  The 
success  of  his  plans,  everything,  depended  on  his  life. 
The  thrust  of  a  lance,  a  stray  bullet  might,  at  the 
very  moment  of  victory,  prove  more  disastrous  to 
the  cause  than  the  most  ruinous  defeat.  He  had 
dark  forebodings  that  his  life  might  be  cut  short 
even  before  he  had  met  the  enemy.  The  conviction 
was  very  general  that  Spain  would  not  forego  the 
use  of  her  wonted  weapon  against  so  dangerous  an 
opponent.  The  murder  of  the  King  of  France  was 
reported  in   several   parts   of    Europe   before  it  had 


1610]  Preparations /or    War.  449 

actually  taken  place.  The  Jesuit  preachers  and 
others  had  again  begun  their  incendiary  sermons. 
Popular  alarm  and  indignation  were  excited  by  the 
usual  lies.  The  Huguenots  had  plotted  a  general 
rising  and  massacre  of  the  Catholics.  The  conspiracy 
had  been  detected,  but  the  King  would  not  allow  the 
guilty  to  be  punished.  He  was  himself  about  to 
attack  the  Pope  and  to  bring  him  in  chains  to  Paris, 
to  help  the  German  heretics  to  root  out  the  orthodox 
remnant  in  the  Empire.  Why  else  were  all  his  armies 
commanded  by  Huguenots,  Lesdiguieres,  Bouillon, 
La  Force, Crequi,  Rohan? 

These  were  the  methods,  so  Henry  IV.  remarked 
on  a  previous  occasion,  by  which  the  day  of  the  bar- 
ricades and  the  assassination  of  the  late  King  had 
been  brought  about,  yet  he  treated  such  direct  in- 
centives to  sedition  with  a  leniency  which  under  the 
circumstances  was  certainly  culpable.  Meeting  one 
day  a  Jesuit  who  had  preached  in  his  presence  with 
the  utmost  violence  against  heretics,  and  their 
scarcely  less  guilty  protectors,  who,  he  protested, 
ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  live,  Henry  said,  "  Well, 
Father,  won't  you  pray  to  God  for  us?" — "How 
can  we  pray  to  God  for  you.  Sire,  when  you  are 
going  into  an  heretical  country  to  exterminate  the 
handful  of  Catholics  left."  Instead  of  being  angry 
the  King  turned  away  and  laughed,  "  Zeal  has 
turned  the  poor  man's  head."  It  was  zeal  such  as 
this  which  placed  the  knife  in  Ravaillac's  hand. 

The  misgivings  of  the  King  were  intensified  by  the 

warnings  of  Villeroy  and   Jeannin  and  of  others  of 

his  Council,   who    were   either  honestly  averse  to  ? 
29 


450  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609^ 

war  with  Spain  or  opposed  to  a  policy  supported 
by  their  rivals.  In  addition  to  these  causes  of 
disquiet  he  was  plagued  by  the  lamentations  and 
importunities  of  his  wife.  Her  disappointment  that 
the  King  would  not  entertain  the  project  of  an 
alliance  with  Spain,  the  soreness  which,  however  ac- 
customed to  his  ostentatious  infidelity,  she  could 
not  but  feel  at  his  preposterous  passion  for  the 
Princess  of  Conde,  scarcely  needed  to  be  in- 
flamed by  the  malice  of  Leonora  Galigai,  and 
Concini,  to  produce  domestic  storms  very  displeas- 
ing to  Henry,  who  wished  to  be  surrounded  by  con- 
tented faces.  He  tried  to  propitiate  his  wife  by 
appointing  her  Regent  during  his  absence,  and  by 
granting  her  desire  to  be  solemnly  anointed  and 
crowned  Queen  of  France.  A  ceremony  which 
would  add  to  the  security  and  dignity  of  her  posi- 
tion and  make  her  claim  to  the  Regency  in  the 
event  of  the  King's  death  more  indisputable.  Henry 
did  not  make  this  last  concession  very  readily.  The 
Queen's  coronation  delayed  his  departure  to  the 
army  and  the  opening  of  the  campaign  three  weeks 
(till  May  19th),  and  cost  much  money  at  a  time  when 
there  were  more  serious  demands  on  the  treasury. 
Moreover  he  could  not  shake  off  the  foreboding  of 
some  evil  which  might  happen  to  himself,  intensified 
by  an  impression  that  he  would  die  in  a  carriage  and 
at  some  public  ceremony. 

On  the  20th  March  the  King  signed  the  ordinance 
which  appointed  the  Queen  Regent  and  nominated 
the  Council  of  Fifteen  by  whose  advice  she  was  to  act. 
The  most  important  members  were  the  Cardinals  Joy- 


1610]  Assassi7iation  of  the  King.  45 1 

euse  and  Du  Perron,  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  and  Mar- 
shal Brissac,  of  the  Barricades.  By  placing  the  leaders 
of  the  Catholic  party  in  the  Council  of  Regency, 
Henry  apparently  sought  to  remove  the  bad  im- 
pression made  on  the  orthodox  by  the  high  military 
commands  bestowed  on  heretics.  He  was  no  doubt 
confident  that  the  dread  of  displeasing  a  victorious 
sovereign  would  secure  the  co-operation  of  the 
Council  in  his  policy,  however  distasteful  to  them. 
Mayenne,  moreover,  had  given  repeated  proofs  of 
loyalty  and  did  not  appear  to  be  implicated  in  the 
intrigues,  by  which  the  younger  members  of  his 
family  had  lately  annoyed  the  King, 

On  May  13th  the  Queen  was  crowned  with  great 
splendour  at  St.  Denis.  On  the  i6th  she  was  to 
make  a  state  progress  through  the  streets  of  Paris. 
On  the  19th  her  husband  was  to  leave  the  capital  to 
take  the  command  of  the  well-equipped  army  of 
35,000  men  assembled  since  April  at  Chalons. 

It  was  not  yet  known  whether  the  Archdukes 
would  allow  the  French  to  cross  their  territory  as 
friends.  Henry  perhaps  hoped  that  they  would  not. 
Whatever  its  discipline  and  valour,  the  small  army 
under  the  orders  of  Spinola  at  Namur  could  scarcely 
be  a  match  for  his  superior  forces,  and  if  it  were 
defeated  the  Netherlands  would  be  at  his  mercy. 
A  few  thousand  men  would  sufifice  to  drive  the 
Archduke  Leopold  out  of  Juliers,  and  it  is  uncertain 
what  use  he  intended  to  make  of  his  army  if  Arch- 
duke Albert  gave  him  no  pretext  for  commencing 
hostilities.  Perhaps  he  himself  hardly  knew  in  what 
direction   the  most  decisive   blow  might  be  struck, 


452  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609- 

and  meant  to  be  guided  by  events  and  by  the  action 
of  his  opponents. 

On  the  morning  after  the  Queen's  coronation 
Henry  was  restless  and  anxious.  "  When  I  am  no 
more,"  he  said  to  the  Duke  of  Guise  and  others 
standing  by,  "  you  will  know  what  you  have  lost." 
After  dinner  he  threw  himself  on  his  bed,  but  could 
not  sleep.  He  then  thought  he  would  visit  Sully, 
who  was  unwell  at  the  Arsenal.  Once  or  twice  he 
left  the  room,  but  came  back,  saying  to  the  Queen, 
"My  dear,  shall  I  go?"  She,  seeing  him  so  unde- 
cided, begged  him  to  stay,  but  at  last  he  made  up 
his  mind,  kissed  her  and  went. 

He  got  into  his  coach  with  the  Dukes  of  Epernon 
and  Montbazon,  the  Marquis  of  La  Force,  and  four 
other  gentlemen.  Dismissmg"~the  captain  of  his 
guards  he  started  for  the  Arsenal  escorted  only  by 
some  footmen,  who  ran  or  walked  with  the  carriage, 
one  of  the  clumsy  conveyances  then  used,  something 
between  a  cart  and  a  four-post  bed  with  leather  cur- 
tains on  wheels.  As  they  turned  out  of  the  Rue  St. 
Honor^  into  the  Rue  de  la  Ferronerie,  a  narrow  lane 
running  along  one  of  the  sides  of  the  Cemetery  of 
the  Innocents,  the  footmen  made  a  cut  across  the 
cemetery  to  meet  the  carriage  at  the  other  end  of 
the  street.  A  little  way  down  the  Rue  de  la  Fer- 
ronerie the  King's  coach  was  obliged  to  draw  close 
up  to  the  side  and  then  to  stop  in  passing  two  carts. 
As  it  stopped  a  man  jumped  on  one  of  the  hind 
wheels,  leant  over  into  the  carriage  and  plunged  a 
knife  twice  into  the  breast  of  the  King  who  was 
leaning    forward    with    his    arm    round    Epernon's 


1610]  Assassination  of  the  King.  453 

shoulder.  Henry  scarcely  uttered  a  cry  ;  the  second 
blow  severed  one  of  the  large  arteries  close  to  the 
heart.  A  gentleman  was  about  to  run  his  sword 
into  the  assassin,  who  stood,  knife  in  hand,  as  if 
astonished  at  what  he  had  done  and  making  no 
attempt  to  escape,  but  Epernon  forbade  him  on  his 
life  to  hurt  the  man,  whom  the  King's  attendants 
protected  from  the  fury  of  the  collecting  crowd. 
The  curtains  of  the  coach  were  drawn, "the  people 
were  told  that  the  King  was  only  wounded  and  his 
lifeless  body  was  carried  back  to  the  Louvre. 

In  a  second  the  knife  of  a  mad  fanatic  had  altered 
the  course  of  the  world's  history.  Had  Henry  IV. 
prospered  in  the  undertaking  he  meditated,  and 
assuredly  the  chances  were  much  in  his  favour,  Ger- 
many  would  have  been  spared  the  horrors  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  the  ruin  of  her  material  prosper- 
ity, the  paralysis  for  a  time  of  all  intellectual  energy 
and  growth.  Protestantism  would  have  become 
predominant,  or  at  least  would  not  have  been 
crushed,  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia  and  other  Aus- 
trian dominions.  The  House  of  Savoy  would  have 
founded  an  Italian  kingdom  two  centuries  and  a 
half  before  the  time  when  an  allied  French  and 
Piedmontese  army  drove  the  Austrians  out  of  Lom- 
bardy.  Yet  we  must  not  forget  that  the  triumph  of 
Henry  IV.  would  have  raised  France  to  a  pre- 
eminence such  as  that  to  which  she  attained  during 
the  first  years  of  the  present  century.  Henry  of 
Bourbon,  no  doubt,  would  not  have  used  his  power 
in  the  same  fashion  as  Napoleon  Buonaparte.  But 
who  could    answer    for    his    successors?     Would    it 


454  Henry  of  Navar^'e.  [1609- 

have  been  well  for  the  independence  of  European 
nationalities,  for  progress  and  liberty,  had  the  ambi- 
tious egotism  of  a  Lewis  XIV.  been  able  without 
fear  of  resistance  to  determine  the  destinies  of 
Europe.  France  herself  might  have  perished  like 
Spain,  exhausted  by  the  despotism  which  drew  from 
her  the  strength  to  enslave  others.  But  it  is  as  un- 
profitable as  it  is  easy  to  speculate  on  what  might 
have  been,  had  things  not  been  as  they  were. 

No  French  king  was  ever  more  deeply  and  gener- 
ally lamented  than  "  the  Bearnese."  Eye-witnesses 
wrote  that  it  was  impossible  to  describe  the  grief 
and  tears  of  the  Parisians.  "  What  will  become  of 
you  ? "  men  were  heard  to  say  to  their  children, 
*'  you  have  lost  your  father  !  " 

In  the  provinces  the  country-people  gathered  along 
the  highways  in  anxious  crowds  to  ask  travellers 
whether  the  King  indeed  was  dead  ?  When  assured 
that  this  was  so  they  dispersed  grief-stricken  and 
with  frantic  lamentations  to  their  houses.  Some  of 
the  educated  classes,  like  De  Vic,  the  Governor  of 
Dieppe,  took  to  their  beds  and  died  of  grief,  A 
touching  tribute  to  the  King's  memory  was  offered 
by  the  mob,  who  received  the  Protestants  on  their 
way  to  service  at  Charenton  not  with  the  usual  in- 
sults, but  with  demonstrations  of  affection  and 
respect. 

The  Queen,  who  by  the  loss  of  her  faithless  hus- 
band, had  become  the  first  person  in  the  State,  and 
who  could  now  indulge  unchecked  her  fondness  for 
her  unworthy  favourites,  those  favourites  themselves, 
the  partisans  of  Spain,  the  great  nobles  who  looked 


w 


OEATH  MASK  TAKEN   FROM   FACE  OF  HENRY  IV. 


1610]  Assassination  of  the  Kiiig.  455 

forward  with  joyful  anticipation  to  a  weak  and 
divided  Regency, — all  these  had  gained  too  much  by 
the  King's  death  for  it  to  be  believed  that  they  sin- 
cerely lamented  him.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that 
in  an  agfe  fertile  in  such  crimes,  it  should  have  been 
reported  that  his  murderer  was  merely  the  tool  of 
others,  a  weapon  wrought  and  fashioned  to  take  a 
life  like  Jacques  Clement  and  Balthazar  Gerard, 

The  Queen  and  the  Concinis,  the  Jesuits  and 
Spain,  Epernon  and  Madame  de  Verneuil  have  been 
severally  accused  of  having  at  least  been  privy  to 
the  murder  of  Henry  IV.  Some  historians  like 
M.  Michelet  appear  to  think  that  all  the  powers  of 
darkness  were  leagued  together  to  quench  the  light  of 
France.  Yet  it  seems  scarcely  possible  to  condemn 
the  mistress  and  not  to  absolve  the  wife,  and  if,  as 
Voltaire  remarks,  Ravaillac  was  incited  to  kill  the 
King  by  the  Spaniards  at  Naples,  he  was  not  sub- 
orned by  Epernon  at  Angouleme. 

But  all  such  suppositions  are  at  variance  with  the 
account  which  the  assassin  gave  of  himself  and  of 
his  motives ;  an  account  which  was  plain  and  consis- 
tent, corroborated  by  independent  evidence,  never 
shaken  by  the  most  painful  bodily  and  mental  tor- 
tures, and  which  entirely  negatives  the  assumption 
that  Ravaillac  was  the  instrument  of  others  or  even 
that  he  had  accomplices. 

Francis  Ravaillac  had  entered  a  convent  of  Ber- 
nardins,  but  at  the  end  of  his  noviciate  was  rejected 
on  account  of  his  fantastic  and  extravagant  conduct. 
He  next  attempted  to  gain  his  living  as  a  school- 
master at  his  native  Angouleme,  but  a  gloomy  and 


45 6  Henry  of  Navarre.  [1609 

forbidding  exterior,  a  visionary  and  disordered  in- 
tellect were  not  likely  to  recommend  him  as  an 
instructor  of  youth ;  and  he  was  more  than  once 
imprisoned  for  debt. 

The  shrill  hysterical  rhetoric  of  the  preachers  who 
continued  the  traditions  of  the  League,  their  fierce 
denunciations  of  heresy  and  of  the  King  who  allowed 
the  accursed  thing  to  remain  in  the  midst  of  his 
people  to  draw  down  God's  judgment  upon  them, 
the  casuistic  subtleties  of  the  books,  which  justified 
means  by  ends,  and  taught  that  it  was  better  that  one 
man  should  suffer  than  the  people  perish,  wrought 
upon  the  distempered  imagination  of  the  starving 
enthusiast.  His  existence  was  perhaps  wretched,  yet 
life  is  life,  and  that  devotion  is  respectable,  however 
mistaken,  which  is  prepared  to  sacrifice  existence  for 
the  supposed  good  of  others.  Nor  did  Ravaillac  wish 
to  shed  blood  unnecessarily.  Before  he  killed  the 
King  he  determined  to  warn  him  of  the  errors  of  his 
ways,  to  give  him  room  for  amendment.  If  he  could 
persuade  him  to  abandon  his  heretical  allies  and  to 
exterminate  his  heretical  subjects,  all  would  be  well. 
For  a  whole  month  the  fanatic  sought  in  vain  to 
obtain  an  interview  (Christmas,  1609).  Then  he  left 
Paris  and  returned  to  Angouleme.  Before  Easter 
he  was  back  again  in  the  capital,  so  poor  that  he 
was  obliged  to  steal  the  knife  with  which  he  hoped 
to  slay  the  enemy  of  true  religion. 

Yet  again  doubts  and  scruples  arose.  He  broke 
off  the  point  of  his  knife  and  set  out  once  more  for 
Angouleme.  As  he  knelt  at  Etampes  before  a  cruci- 
fix, the  wounds  and  sorrow  of  the  Redeemer  seemed 


16101  Assassination  of  the  King.  457 

to  reproach  him  for  indifference  to  the  sufferings  of 
Christ's  Church.  He  heard  moreover  that  the  King 
was  about  to  attack  God  in  the  person  of  his  Vicar. 
Hesitation  now  gave  place  to  a  firm  resolve ;  he 
repointed  his  knife  upon  a  stone,  turned  his  face 
towards  Paris  and  watched  with  dogged  determina- 
tion for  an  opportunity  to  kill  the  tyrant,  for  he  had 
learnt  in  his  books,  that  the  prince  is  a  tyrant  who 
refuses  obedience  to  the  Church  and  leagues  him- 
self with  the  unrighteous  against  God's  people. 

That  he  had  no  accomplices  he  persisted  in  assert- 
ing under  the  most  horrible  torments  and  at  the 
moment  of  his  death,  when  his  confessor  threatened 
him,  unless  he  spoke  the  truth,  with  the  most  certain 
pains  of  hell.  And  if  he  had  accomplices  would  he 
have  been  reduced  to  stealing  the  knife  wherewith 
to  execute  his  purpose?  He  was  equally  positive 
that  he  had  not  been  encouraged  or  instigated  to 
murder  the  King  by  anybody  or  anything,  except 
the  sermons  he  had  heard  and  the  books  he  had 
read.  He  had  expected  all  good  Catholics  to  sym- 
pathise with  him  and  to  bless  him  for  what  he 
had  done.  Perhaps  he  remembered  the  images  of 
Jacques  Clement,  exalted  on  the  altars  and  vener- 
ated with  honours  almost  divine.  He  was  amazed 
and  distressed  by  the  howls  of  execration  with 
which  his  appearance  was  greeted,  by  the  frantic 
efforts  of  the  mob  to  snatch  him  from  his  guards 
and  to  tear  him  limb  from  limb,  by  the  yells  and 
curses  which  answered  the  request  of  his  confessor, 
that  the  people  should  pray  for  him  while  he  suf- 
fered his  barbarous  doom. 


45 8  Heniy  of  Navarre.  [i609- 

The  despair  of  all  patriots,  the  scarcely  dissembled 
satisfaction  of  the  domestic  and  foreign  enemies  of 
France  at  the  King's  death  are  a  convincing  proof 
of  his  greatness.  We  may  find  another  in  the 
almost  enthusiastic  admiration  felt  for  him  by  many 
of  those  who  lived  in  his  intimacy,  even  when  they 
were  severe  censors  of  his  failings.  Aubigne  was  a 
caustic,  often  an  ungenerous  critic  of  a  prince  who, 
he  believed,  had  failed  fully  to  appreciate  his  own 
transcendant  merits,  but  after  relating  an  instance  of 
Henry's  frank  magnanimity,  he  exclaims  in  a  tone  of 
the  sincerest  conviction  :  "  Such  was  the  King  our 
master,  if  he  had  his  faults  he  had  also  sublime  vir 
tues."  And  this  evidence  has  all  the  more  weight 
because  many  of  Henry's  weaknesses  and  shortcom- 
ings were  of  the  kind  which  most  prevent  a  man 
from  appearing  heroic  to  those  about  him.  He  in- 
herited from  his  spendthrift  father  Antony  of  Bour- 
bon, whose  attendants  sent  back  each  evening  the 
articles  he  had  pilfered  during  the  day,  that  unrea- 
soning delight  in  small  gains  of  which  such  klep- 
tomania appears  to  be  the  exaggeration.  This 
tendency  made  him  mean  in  small  matters,  greedy 
of  winning  in  the  games  of  chance  to  which  he  was 
addicted,  and  out  of  temper  when  he  lost. 

His  sensuality  was,  as  we  have  seen,  unbridled  and 
not  over  nice  in  the  gratification  it  demanded.  A 
liking  for  coarse  food  highly  spiced  and  redolent  of 
garlic,  for  heavy  perfumes  and  full-bodied  wines,  a 
neglect  of  personal  cleanliness,  remarkable  even  in 
the  17th  century,  may  be  explained  by  the  circum- 
stances of  a  life  spent  in  the  saddle  and  under  arms, 


1610]  Assassination  of  the  King.  459 

but  contrasted  with  the  more  refined  luxury  of  his 
predecessor,  and  indicate  a  coarseness  of  material 
and  moral  perception,  which  sometimes  betrayed  it- 
self in  a  want  of  tact,  remarkable  in  a  man  of  ready 
sympathy  and  of  warm,  though  superficial  and 
transient,  emotions. 

Yet  it  is  not  strange  that,  in  spite  of  all,  he  should 
have  exercised  great  personal  fascination  over  those 
who  approached  him,  since  even  we,  who  are  unin- 
fluenced by  personal  contact  with  so  rich  and 
vigorous  a  nature,  fall  to  some  extent  under  the 
charm  of  his  unflagging  energy,  his  boundless  good 
_temper,  his  unfeigned  humanity.  He  gained  much 
popularity  by  the  frankness  with  which  he  treated 
his  friends  and  his  enemies,  by  the  ostentatious 
openness  of  his  dealings  both  public  and  private. 
He  was  not,  he  boasted,  one  of  those  princes  who 
had  not  sufficient  virtue  to  be  relieved  from  the 
necessity  of  concealing  their  faults. 

Insensible  to  adulation  himself,  he  excelled  in  the 
_a^rt  of  flattering  others.  Whether  writing  with  his 
own  hand  to  the  newly  chosen  mayor  of  some 
provincial  town,  or  begging  Beza  to  continue  his 
fatherly  admonitions  ;  or  assuring  the  old  Marshal 
that  young  Biron  is  as  dear  to  him  as  a  brother,  and 
that  it  inay  be  said  of  them  like  master,  like  man  ; 
or  addressing  some  companion  in  arms  in  a  tone  of 
military  comradeship,  his  letters  are  models  of  skilful 
flattery.  He  never  forgets  to  court  his  friends  by 
small  and  cheap  attentions.  He  ofl'ers  his  own 
doctor  to  Segur,  and  regrets  that  his  many  afl"airs 
prevent  him  from  coming  himself  to  help  in  nursing 


460  Henry  of  Navarre.  [I609- 

him  ;  he  will  bring  one  or  two  cheerful  companions 
to  dine  with  another  invalid.  When  he  thinks  that 
it  will  be  acceptable,  the  dose  of  compliment  is  open 
and  undisguised  ;  he  seems  to  be  ever  on  his  knees 
before  Queen  Elizabeth,  "kissing  humbly,"  as  he 
says,  "the  fair  and  fortunate  hands  which  hold  for 
him  the  keys  of  good  and  evil  fate."  He  is  unspar- 
ing of  protestations  of  affection  :  "  Be  assured  that 
I  am  your  best  friend,  the  best  master  you  could 
ever  have."  He  is  prodigal  of  expressions  of  grati- 
tude and  vague  promises.  Often  full  of  regrets 
when,  like  the  brother  of  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  his 
servants  die  at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  going 
to  do  something  great  for  them.  Mornay  himself 
must  not  imagine  that  he  will  permit  him  to  be 
ruined  in  his  service — "  I  am  too  good  a  master." 
If  he  is  told  that  his  friends  are  discontented, 
he  assures  them  that  he  closes  his  ears  to  such 
calumnies. 

How  far  was  he  consciously  insincere?  It  is  not 
easy  to  answer  this  question  in  the  case  of  a  man  of 
such  vivacity,  so  susceptible  of  the  feeling  of  the 
moment.  He  probably  felt  at  the  time  what  he 
expressed  so  warmly  and  so  naturally.  Yet  he  him- 
self allowed  that  he  often  meant  to  deceive.  "  Nc' 
cessity,"  he  said,  "  compels  me  to  say  now  this,  now 
that."  It  is  certain  that  he  hated  Epernon,  and 
with  good  reason,  yet  he  \/rites  to  him  in  a  tone  of 
cordial  friendship,  and  he  assures  Matignon  that  he 
had  never  made  any  complaint  of  his  conduct,  a  few 
days  after  filling  a  letter  to  Henry  III.  with  charges 
against  him.     Nevertheless,  tried  by  the  standard  of 


1610]  Assassination  of  the  King.  461 

those  times — compared,  for  instance,  with  Philip  II. 
or  Elizabeth  of  England — we  must  allow  Henry  the 
praise  of  having  been  straightforward  and  honourable 
in  word  and  deed.  Much  of  the  impression  of  in- 
sincerity and  double-dealing  often  left  upon  us,  is 
perhaps  due  to  the  contrast  presented  by  his  violent 
though  fleeting  passions  and  emotions,  to  his  cold 
heart  and  patient,  persevering  ambition. 

His  apparent  incapacity  to  conceal  his  feelings — 
he  often  turned  pale  and  showed  great  agitation,  his 
tears  flowed  readily — was  of  service  to  him.  Few 
suspected  how  cool  and  calculating  a  politician  was 
hidden  under  the  exterior  of  the  blunt,  outspoken 
soldier  and  sportsman,  of  the  genial  man  of  pleasure. 
And  when  occasion  required,  Henry  was  not  incapa- 
ble of  self-control.  J.  A.  De  Thou  tells  in  his 
memoirs  how,  when  during  the  siege  of  Rouen, 
Marshal  Biron  had  complained  of  some  mistake 
made  by  Crillon,  the  "  brave  Crillon,"  a  gallant 
ofificer,  but  a  licenced  and  extravagant  braggart, 
came  to  the  King's  quarters  to  excuse  himself.  His 
excuses  soon  became  argumentative,  then  passion 
and  blasphemies  took  the  place  of  argument.  At 
length  the  King  told  him  to  leave  the  room,  yet  he 
constantly  reappeared,  while  Biron,  sitting  on  a 
chest,  pretended  to  be  asleep  and  not  to  hear  the 
insults,  "  mangy  hound  "  and  the  like,  shouted  into 
his  ear.  Henry  changed  colour  with  impatience  and 
anger,  yet  restrained  himself.  After  Crillon  at 
length  was  gone,  he  turned  to  De  Thou  and  others 
who  were  marvelling  at  his  patience.  "  Nature,"  he 
said,  "  made   me   hot-tempered,  but  anger  is  a  bad 


462  Henry  of  Navarre.  11609- 

counsellor,  and  since  I  have  known  myself  I  have 
always  been  on  my  guard  against  so  dangerous  a 
passion." 

Passionate  he  may  have  been  by  nature,  but  cer- 
tainly no  man  was  ever  less  resentful.  Michelet 
perhaps  is  partly  right  when  he  speaks  of  the  un- 
fathomable depth  of  indifference  to  all  things,  which 
lay  at  the  root  of  Henry's  character.  Such  indiffer- 
ence would  account  for  the  fact  that  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  jealous  of  even  his  best  loved 
mistresses.  Bellegarde  was  more  than  suspected  of 
having  been  the  lover  both  of  Gabrielle  and  of 
Henriette,  and  of  even  having  dared  to  court  the 
Queen,  yet  he  never  lost  his  master's  favour.  The 
same  indifference  may  explain  his  extraordinary 
placability,  "  his  patience  in  bearing  reproof  and  his 
invincible  hardness  of  heart."  Not  only  during  the 
earlier  part  of  his  life  did  he  bear  the  rebukes  of  the 
Calvinist  ministers,  and  even  do  public  penance  at 
their  bidding,  but  when  King  of  France  he  listened 
not  less  patiently  to  the  admonitions  of  more  ortho- 
dox preachers.  No  solicitations  of  Madame  de 
Verneuil  could  induce  him  to  punish  a  Jesuit,  who 
had  reproached  him  for  coming  to  hear  God's  word 
surrounded  by  his  harem.  Next  day  he  went  to 
hear  the  same  Father  and  thanked  him  for  his 
reproofs,  only  begging  him  to  administer  them  more 
privately  in  future. 

It  is  perhaps  not  fanciful  to  trace  some  of  the 
features  of  the  character  of  Henry  IV.  in  that  of  his 
grandson,  Charles  II.  of  England.  In  both  we  find 
the  same  profligacy,  the  same  low  estimate  of  men, 


1610]  Assassmaiioii  of  the  King.  463 

the  same  dislike  of  seeing  what  is  unpleasant,  the 
same  desire  to  be  surrounded  by  contented  faces,  the 
same  physical  good  nature  which  since  it  expected 
nothing  was  incapable  of  righteous  indignation  on 
finding  nothing.  Yet  Henry's  readiness  to  forgive, 
may  more  charitably  be  deduced  from  what  was 
perhaps  his  most  excellent  quality,  his  unaffected 
humanity.  No  commander  of  the  time  was  more 
anxious  to  provide  for  the  comfort  of  his  men,  to 
mitigate  the  sufferings  of  his  enemies.  No  King 
was  more  sincerely  anxious  to  make  the  life  of  his 
poorer  subjects  less  miserable.  Again  and  again  he 
warns  magistrates  not  to  inflict  unduly  severe  punish- 
ments. Twice  he  flogged  the  Dauphin  with  his  own 
hand,  once  for  cutting  off  the  head  of  a  sparrow,  and 
ag-ain  for  wishing  that  some  one  would  kill  an  atten- 
dant  who  had  displeased  him.  No  faults  were  so 
unpardonable  in  his  eyes  as  cruelty  and  vindictive- 
ness. 

Though  experience  had  taught  him  to  expect  little 
from  mankind  he  was  not  incapable  of  recognising 
and  admiring  merit  and  virtue.  He  was  not,  wrote 
Du  Plessis-Mornay,  one  of  those  princes  born  in  the 
purple  and  cradled  in  a  Court,  the  predestined  prey 
of  sycophants,  who  can  know  of  men  only  what  they 
are  told,  but  on  the  contrary  was  as  well  able  as  any 
in  his  kingdom  to  judge  of  the  character  and  of  the 
deserts  of  those  about  him.  He  used  to  say,  that 
though  shamefully  betrayed  by  many  he  had  been 
deceived  by  few. 

But  we  must  beware  lest  in  the  endeavour  to 
enumerate  and  to  balance  the  failings  and  frailties, 


464  Henry  of  Navarre.  L1610. 

the  merits  and  virtues  of  such  a  man,  we  lose  all  true 
appreciation  of  him  as  a  whole,  and  so  form  a  judg- 
ment less  just  than  that  embodied  in  the  traditional 
view  of  his  character. 

There  was  that  about  him  which,  whatever  he  did, 
prevented  him  from  appearing  mean  or  hateful,  and 
it  is  not  without  reason  that  of  all  the  Kings  who 
have  occupied  the  French  throne,  Henry  of  Navarre 
still  retains  the  first  place  in  the  memory  and  affec- 
tion of  his  people. 

There  have  been  many  better  men  than  Henry 
IV.,  greater  statesmen,  more  consummate  generals, 
but  few  men  have  appeared  on  the  stage  of  history 
better  equipped  for  their  allotted  part.  The  defects 
in  his  character  were  numerous  and  patent.  He  was 
no  Caesar — not  a  man  whose  very  failings  bear  the 
impress  of  greatness,  of  something  above  the  ordi- 
nary standard  of  humanity — still  less  was  he  a  flawless 
hero,  a  Marcus  Aurelius,  an  Alfred,  or  a  St.  Lewis. 
The  life  of  such  men,  like  a  Greek  tragedy,  main- 
tains throughout  the  same  lofty  and  measured  dig- 
nity. The  life  of  Henry  of  Bourbon  may  rather  be 
likened  to  an  Elizabethan  drama,  interspersed  with 
incongruities,  with  scenes  of  comedy,  and  even  of 
low  buffoonery,  but  perhaps  for  that  very  reason 
touching  more  nearly  our  human  sympathies. 


THE  END. 


■^% 


o  a  V 

.2  o  E- 

0  —  T3 

o  c 

-^    C    O 

^    o 

i  6 

o 


rt  rt  ^ 

c    ." 

-■«§§ 


_►— i-u" M-i  ^ 

.  c      o  — 


is 


•^B 


'J-^'^' 


,03   C   ° 

.2  3  i/f^a  t 

0<I3  °  u  '- 

^      .    O    U  XI  • 

u  O   1-  i- 

S    'J=  =  £  S 

u  in  !i  rt  C^  >^ 

^'    '  t  " 


.  u  3  3 

"jdgf 

'n  voJD   O 
J2   ID  3« 
rt      .Qrt 
Ot3 


S     C     «     M 


3.Sro 


O  o 


3     ,  O 


i-a.2 


.X 


>*-   3 

-  o_«  - 

Is 


u 


"  o    . 

-  3"-' 
tl   O   >> 

coa  C 

3U 

C 


O  bfl 

-^5 


«  w  'r  u 

'^         3   k. 

-00  iJ  x: 

"S   ■"  3   C 
3    M     ,   „. 

—  C       ."^  Q^ 

iT      O 
W   3   >>„, 


2  go 


■2      o  *• 


1/1    C     ,u- 


0-S  E 


T5        fc.    .,    rJ  — 


^  s 


OJ 

o-=  « 

S  o  0 

loi-^ 

-■^■-d 

O   ,,    V 

f  £  c 

y  s « 

C  ^    u 

TtJfc 

M-i 

0.    .   - 

,  O      , 

>s 


n  c  o 
fa 


O-Q- 


S  2  i- J 
U 


3  S 


.   t    BO  >> 

>  «  n  B 


rt  re  T3 


2  «  C  3  o 

Oo 


JS  ti  ?,  t 


CO    V 


C.2 

5^ 


•T3  £ 
,  O 

c  c 


Co 

c     . 

4Je 


r?: 


u 


—  rt  c  o 


•2  "2  5  3 


<< 


^^ 

A'k^^ 

^^^^^ 

7^ 

"^^^ 

fe 

M 

^^ 

jKm^^\ 

w 

^ 

S3fiC^'==*'^^*^ 

INDEX. 


Acadia,  358 

Achmet,  Sultan,  415 

Agen,  118,  379 

Aix,  Parliament  of,  27 

Alava,  61 

Albert,  the  Cardinal-Archduke, 
310,  322  et  seq.,  326,  424,  432, 
442  et  seq.,  451 

Albret,  see  Henry  of,  and  Jane 
of. 

Alen9on,  108 

Alen9on,  Francis,  Duke  of  (after- 
wards Duke  of  Anjou),  his 
character,  92  ;  watched  by  his 
mother,  loi  ;  escapes  and 
heads  the  rebels,  105,  108  ; 
concludes  peace  with  the  Court, 
109  ;  opinion  of  the  Protestants, 
117  ;  mischief  making  at  Pau, 
133  ;  death,  138  ;  gave  Cam- 
bray  to  Balagny,  304 

Amiens,  286,  287,  317  ;  siege  of, 
319  et  seq. 

Amyot,  377 

Angouleme,  455 

Angouleme,  Duke  of,  79 

Anhalt,  Prince  Christian  of,  236, 
430 

Anjou,  Duke  of,  see  Henry  HI., 
and  Alen9on. 

Anjou,  House  of,  16 

Antony  of  Bourbon,  King  of 
Navarre,  in  the  power  of  the 


Guises,  21  ;  his  influence  at 
Court,  29  ;  changes  sides,  33  ; 
reproaches  Beza,  35  ;  killed 
before  Rouen,  41  ;  his  charac- 
ter, 44 ;  married  to  Jane  of 
Albret,  48  ;  a  Protestant,  51  ; 
reverts  to  Catholicism,  52 

Antwerp,  150,  423 

Arbaleste,  Charlotte,  Mme.  Du 
Plessis-Mornay,  121 

Arques,  battle  of,  199 

Armada,  the  Invincible,  163,  224 

Arnauld,  Antoine,  296 

Arras,  317 

Artois,  190,  299,  413 

Aubigne,  90,  106,  107,  133,  135, 
136,  157,  175,  200,  221,  259, 
330,  377,  382,  410,  425 

Auch,  129 

Augsburg,  Peace  of,  428 

Aumale,  Duke  of,  90 

Aumont,  Marshal,  195,  197,  200, 
209 

Auneau,  159 

Auvergne,  216,  379 

Auvergne,  Count  of,  389,  403, 
407,  409,  417,  419  et  seq. 

Avignon,  105 


B 


Balagny,  304 

Balzac,  Francis  de.  Lord  of  En- 

tragues,  389,  419  et  seq. 
Barneveld,  Olden,  414,  432 


v.4^ 


466 


Indi 


ex. 


Barriere,  267,  284 
Bassompierre,  437  et  scq. 
Beam,  336 
Beaufort,   Duchess    of,    see    Ga- 

brielle. 
Beda,  4 

Belin,  Count  of,  201,  256,  277 
Bellegarde,  229,  231,  462 
Bergerac,  Peace  of,  127  j 

Berquin,  Lewis  de,  4,  5 
Beuil,  Jacqueline  de,  421  ; 

Beza,  35,  51,  55,  145,  259,  459 
Birago,  77  1 

Biron,  Marshal  (the  elder),  187,   ! 

210,  212,   221,  237,  238,  241, 

244,  246,  461 
Biron,    Duke   of  (the   younger), 

244,  299,  300,   319,   322,  374,   I 

401  et  seq.  \ 

Blavet,  327 
Bouillon,  see  Turenne. 
Bourbon,  Family  of,  44 
Bourbon,  Peter,  Duke  of,  44 
Bourbon,  Charles,  Constable  of, 

ib. 
Bourbon,   Charles,   Cardinal  of, 

138,  141,  145,  191,  204,  217 
Bourbon,  the  younger  Cardinal 

of,  226 
Brandenburg,  Elector  of,  432 
Bran  tome,  8r 

Brissac,  180,  277,  280  ^Vj^^.,  451 
Brittany,  203,  224,  327 
Burgundian  kingdom,  225,  417 
Burgundy,    286,    297,   299,   402, 

405 
Bussy  d'Amboise,  374 

C 

Caetano,  225 

Cahors,  storm  of,  130 

Calais,  196,  233,  31 1  et  seq.,  326, 
327 

Calvin,  his  book  dedicated  to 
Francis  I.,  5  ;  his  doctrine,  6  ; 
favourable  to  political  liberty, 
8 ;  advocates  non-resistance, 
19  ;  his  opinion  of  Antony  of 
Bourbon,  45 


Cambray,  304,  327 

Canada,  358 

Canaillac,  380 

Cardenas,  Don  Inigo  de,  445 

Casaubon,  348,  372 

Cateau-Cambresis,  Peace  of,  12 

Catherine  de'  Medici,  Regent, 
21  ;  favours  the  Reformers,  29  ; 
her  character,  30 ;  accepts 
L'Hopital's  policy  of  concilia- 
tion, 31  ;  urges  Conde  to  pro- 
tect her  against  the  Guises,  36  ; 
keeps  Henry  of  Navarre  at 
Court,  53 ;  her  ladies,  54 ; 
dread  of  Spanish  interference, 
58,  61  ;  alarmed  at  the  influ- 
ence of  Coligny  over  Charles 
IX.,  73  ;  determines  his  death, 
75  ;  wishes  to  continue  opposi- 
tion to  Spain,  94  ;  secures  the 
succession  of  Henry  III.,  loi  ; 
visits  the  Court  of  Navarre, 
128  ;  to  make  mischief,  129  ; 
opposed  to  the  Huguenots,  140 ; 
advises  Henry  III.  to  yield  to 
the  League,  145  ;  intercedes 
for  Guise,  164;  dying,  170; 
trusted  La  Noue,  237  ;  her 
books,  372 

Catherine  of  Navarre,  51,  125, 
134,  227,  229,  387 

Caudebec,  243,  244 

Cecil,  71,  74,  83,  94,  105 

Chaligny,  Count  of,  90,  241 

Chalons,  286 

Champagne,  286,  287 

Champlain,  357 

Charenton,  218;  "Temple"  of, 

342,  454 
Charles  IX.,  besieges  St.  Jean 
d'Angely,  57  ;  disposed  to 
peace,  58  ;  his  hatred  of  Spain, 
64  ;  wishes  to  marry  his  sister 
to  Henry  of  Navarre,  69  ;  in- 
fluenced by  Coligny,  73  ;  de- 
sires Queen  of  England  to  help 
Orange,  74  ;  anger  at  the  at- 
tempt against  Coligny,  76 ; 
visits    him,    77  ;    consent     to 


Index. 


467 


the  massacre   extorted  by  his 

mother,  78  ;  his  character,  91  ; 

his  Government,  99  ;  miserable 

death,  100 
Charles  II.  of  England,  463 
Charolais,  327 
Chastel,  296 

Chateauneuf,  Mme.  de,  90 
Chatillon,    126,    159,    176,    178, 

199,  203,  238 
Cherbourg,  107 
Chicot,  90,  241 
Chrestien,  Florent,  56,  373 
Clement  VIII.,    268,    305,   324, 

416 
Clement,  Jacques,  182,  457 
Cleves,  question  of  succession  to, 

431 

Clovis,  274 

Cognac,  59 

Colbert,  125 

Coligny,  presents  petition  from 
Reformers,  20  ;  powerful  after 
the  death  of  Francis  II.,  21  ; 
reluctant  to  begin  the  war,  36  ; 
Conde  under  his  influence,  41  ; 
at  Jarnac,  42  ;  defeated  at 
Montcontour,  57  ;  collects  an 
army  in  the  south,  ib.  ;  anxious 
for  peace,  59  ;  invited  to  Court, 
62 ;  reception  there,  ib.  ;  at 
Henry  of  Navarre's  wedding, 
70  ;  influence  over  Charles  IX. , 
74  ;  attempt  on  his  life,  76  ; 
death  and  character,  79 ;  patron 
of  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  I20 

Commines,  113 

Concini,  394,  422,  436,  451,  455 

Conde,  Lewis,  Prince  of,  rival  of 
the  Guises,  20  ;  in  their  power, 
21  ;  leader  of  the  Huguenots, 
33  ;  offers  to  raise  50,000  men 
against  the  Guises,  35  ;  aban- 
dons Paris  and  the  King,  36  ; 
his  character,  40  ;  death  at 
Jarnac,  42 

Conde,  Henry,  Prince  of,  43,  87, 
98,  loi,  108  no,  128,  150, 
174. 369 


Conde,  Henry  II.,  Prince  of, 
333,  378.  439,  440,  442_,  44.3 

Conde,  Charlotte  de  la  Tremoille, 
Princess  of,  1 74 

Conde,  Charlotte  de  Montmor- 
ency, Princess  of,  437  ct  seq. 

Corbeil,  223 

Corisande,  see  Grammont. 

Cosse,  62,  loi,  109 

Cotton,  410 

Council,  the  Royal,  its  composi- 
tion, 63  ;  decides  against  war 
with  Spain,  74 

Coutras,  battle  of,  155 

Crillon,  164,  461 


D 


D'Amours,  157,  259 
Damville,  Duke  of,  100,  118,  126 
(after  1579,  see  Montmorency). 
Dauphin,  the  (Lewis  XIII.),  50, 

397,  414,  434,  463 
Dauphiny,  14,  27,  344 
De  Monts,  357 
De  Thou,  J.    A.,   56,   121,    139, 

.334.  363,  369,  372,  461 
Dieppe,  26,  196 
Dijon,  14,  286,  299,  300 
D'O,  Francis,  185,  258,  272,  309. 

351 

Dohna,  Fabian  of,  158 

Dolet,  Stephen,  11 

Dombes,  Prince  of,  224 

Dominicans,  306 

Doria,  Carlo,  288 

D'Ossat,  Cardinal,  306,  325 

Douai,  322 

Dreux,  206,  255 

Du  Bourg,  15 

Du  Cliatel,  Bishop  of  Macon,  II 

Duelling,  89,  369 

Du  Perron,  259,  306,  372,  451 

Du  Plessis-Mornay,  valor  at 
Eausse,  iig  ;  birth,  education, 
character,  \io  ct  scq.  ;  mission 
to  Henry  III.,  136  ;  satisfac- 
tion at  death  of  Guise,  advice 
to  Henry  of  Navarre,  176  ;  at 


468 


Index. 


Ivry,  207  ;  Villeroy  attempts 
to  convince  him  that  Henry  IV. 
must  conform,  213  ;  mission  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  239  ;  be- 
lieves that  Henry  IV.  will  not 
change  his  religion,  256  ;  dis- 
appointed, 260  ;  summoned  re- 
peatedly to  Court,  261  ;  ill 
rewarded,  271  ;  distrusts  the 
King,  329  ;  yet  approves  of  his 
policy  in  regard  to  the  Protes- 
tants, 381  ;  and  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  343  ;  urges  Henry  IV. 
to  marry  again,  380 

Duprat,  4 

D'Urfe,  438 

Dutch,  73,  97,  140,  142,  150, 
195,  239,  246,  2go,  299,  312, 
313,  321,  326,  414,  424,  427, 
432,  435,  446 


E 


Eausse,  I19 

Edict  of  Fontainebleau(i54o),  14 
Edict  of  Chateaubriand  (1551),  10 
Edict  of  Compiegne  (1557),  ib. 
Edict  of  January  (1561),  31 
Edict  of  Bergerac  (1577),  127 
Edict  of  Nantes  (1598),  335 
Egmont,  Count  of,  206,  211 
Elizabeth  of  England,  supported 
by  Philip  II.,  r6  ;   her  vacilla- 
tion a  cause  of  the  massacre  of 
St.    Bartholomew,    72  ;    dares 
not  quarrel  with  the    French, 
94  ;  plots  for  her  assassination, 
139  ;  urges  Henry  III.  not  to 
submit  to  the  League,  146  ;  he 
desires  her  advice,  161  ;  Jeze- 
bel,    162 ;     vigorously     helps 
Henry    IV.,    196;  blames   his 
humanity  during  siege  of  Paris, 
220  ;  sends  an  army  into  Brit- 
tany, 224  ;  admired  by  Sixtus 
v.,  225  ;  sends  Essex  and  6,000 
men  to  Normandy,  233  ;  angry 
at    loss    of    her    men     before 
Rouen,    239 ;   yet   sends   rein- 


forcements, 242  ;  rebukes 
Henry  IV.  for  apostasy,  265  ; 
delays  to  relieve  Calais,  312; 
offensive  and  defensive  treaty 
between  her  and  Henry  V\., 
313;  not  very  f orw  ard  in  helping 
to  retake  Amiens,  320  ;  warne'l 
by  Henry  IV.  that  she  must 
make  peace,  326  ;  recalls  hei 
troops  from  Brittany,  327  ; 
warns  Biron,  404 ;  her  death 
lamented  by  Henry  IV.,  413  ; 
his  flattery  of  her,  460 

English,  assist  La  Rochelle,  97  ; 
volunteers,  321 

Entragues,  see  Balzac. 

Eperuon,  Duke  of,  90,  13S,  140, 
144,  165,  188,  286,  309,  403, 
405,  407,  452,  460 

Erasmus,  4 

Ernest,  Archduke,  253,  299 

Essex,  Earl  uf,  233,  236,  239, 
311,  404,  407 

Errard,  364 


Farnese,  Alexander,  Duke  of 
Parma,  140,  141,  149,  163, 
189.  217,  219,  220,  237,  240, 
242  et  sfq.,   250 

Ferdinand,  Archduke,  430 

Feria,  Duke  of,  253  et  seq.,  278, 
280,  283 

Fleix,  Peace  of,  132 

Fleurance,  129 

Fontainebleau,  368,  386 

Fontaine  Fran9aise,  engagement 
at,  301 

Franche  Comte,   190,    290,   297, 

299.  413 
Francis  I.,  3,  5,  46,  372 
Francis  II.,  18,  21,  50 
Fuentes,  Count  of,  303,  311 


G 


Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  229  et  seq, 
263,  290,  307,  379  et  seq. 


Index. 


469 


Geneva,  9,  400 

Germany,    155,    233,    413,    423, 

428  tt  Sep.,  434,  435 
Givry,  1S6,  287 
Gondi,  Bishop  of  Paris,  219 
Gondi,  Count  of  Retz,  77 
Grammont,  Corisande,  Countess 

of,  134,  138,  156,  175,  227 
Gregory  XIV.,  225 
Guise,  Francis,  Duke  of,  17,  35, 

36,  41 

Guise,  Henry,  Duke  of,  privy  to 
plot  against  Coligny,  76,  78 ; 
superintends  his  murder,  79  ; 
affects  humanity,  83  ;  his  char- 
acter, 92  ;  offers  to  protect 
Du  Plessis-Mornay,  120  ;  Lieu- 
tenant-General  of  the  League, 
144  ;  surprises  Germans  at 
Auneau,  159;  hated  by  Henry 
III.,  160;  enters  Paris  in  de- 
fiance of  the  King,  164  ;  at 
the  barricades,  165  ;  objects  of 
his  ambition,  166  ;  despises 
Henry  III.,  169:  assassinated, 
170;  blood  calls  for  blood,  339 

Guise,  Charles,  Duke  of,  190, 
243,  248,  254,  286,   28S,   436, 

45X 
Guise,   Charles   of.    Cardinal   of 

Lorraine,  17  ^"^  j^^.,    105 
Guise,  Lewis,  Cardinal  of,  171 
Guise,  Mademoiselle  de,  397 
Guises,  their   policy  and   ambi- 
tion, 16  ;  summon  the  States- 
General,  20;  their  toleration, 
34  ;  provoke  the  outbreak  of 
war,  35  ;  distrusted  by  Philip 
II.,  137  ;  ally  themselves  with 
Spain,  141  ;  distrust  Catherine 
de'  Medici,  T54  ;  their  party, 
183  ;  claims  on  Provence,  288; 
their  intrigues,  451 

H 

Hall,  conference  at,  434 
Hall,  Treaty  of,  446 
Harlay,  363,  372 


Havre,  203,  234 

Henriette   d'Entragues,    389    et 
^^1-t  396  £(  •f'^^M   418   et  seq., 
43b,  455 
Henry  of  Albret,  King  of  Na- 
varre, 46,  48,  49 
Henry   II.,  persecutes  the  Prot- 
estants, 10;  killed,  15  ;    intro- 
duces Jesuits  into  France,  293 
Henry  III.,  suspected  01  death 
of   Conde,    42 ;    victorious   at 
Montcontour,  57  ;  at  his  sister 
Margaret's  wedding,   70 ;    the 
accomplice  of    his   mother  in 
the  plot  against  Coligny,   75, 
and  in  persuading  Charles  IX. 

i       to  consent  to  the  massacre,  77; 

I  his  account  of  the  massacre, 
79  ;  his   effeminate   dress  and 

j       character,  91,    116;    King  of 

!  Poland,  98  ;  compelled  to 
leave  France,  100  ;  flies  from 

I  Poland  yet  loiters  on  his  way 
to  France,  102 ;  progress  in 
the   South,    104  ;    his   foolish 

.  profusion  and  superstition, 
105   ;    his   policy   and   errors, 

114  ;    etiquette   at  his  Court, 

115  ;  offers  fair  terms  to  the 
Huguenots,  127  ;  concludes 
Peace  of  Fleix,  132  ;  his  mis- 
government,  ib.  ;  insults  his 
sister  Margaret,  136  ;  wishes 
Navarre  to  conform,  139  ;  rec- 
ognises him  as  his  heir  and 
accepts  the  Garter,  141  ;  dares 
not  resist  the  League,  144  ; 
yet  warns  Navarre  to  be  on 
his  guard,  146  ;  surrenders  to 
the  League,  148  ;  hates  Guise, 
160  ;  perplexity,  161  ;  defied 
by  Guise,  164  ;  compelled  to 
fly  from  Paris,  166  ;  tries  to 
conciliate  the  League  and  the 
Estates  at  Blois,  168  ;  deter- 
mines to  get  rid  of  Guise,  169; 
assassination  of  Guise  and  con- 
sequences  to  the  King,  171 
et  seq.  ;    he    shows  favour  to 


470 


Index. 


Chatillon,  178  ;  interview  with 
Navarre,  179;  besieges  Paris, 
181  ;  assassinated,  182  ;  names 
Henry  of  Navarre  his  suc- 
cessor, 185 
Henry  IV.,  swears  fidelity  to  the 
Protestant  cause,  43  ;  his  birth 
and  early  education,  49  ;  at 
the  French  Court,  52  et  seq.  ; 
with  his  mother  at  Nerac,  55  ; 
the  source  of  his  versatility, 
56  ;  accompanies  Coligny  in 
the  campaign  of  Montcontour 
and  afterwards,  59  ;  his  do- 
mains, 61  ;  proposed  husband 
of  Margaret  of  Valois,  62,  63  ; 
arrangements  for  the  wedding, 
68  ;  the  ceremony,  69  ;  spared 
after  massacre  of  St.  Barthol- 
omew, 87  ;  difficulty  of  his 
position,  88  ;  serves  at  siege  of 
La  Rochelle,  97  ;  carefully 
guarded  by  the  Queen-Mother 
after  death  of  Charles  IX. ; 
determines  to  escape,  105  ; 
and  does  so,  107  ;  awaits 
events,  109  ;  readmitted  into 
Calvinist  Communion,  117  ; 
protector  of  the  churches,  ih.  ; 
receives  a  deputation  from  the 
Estates,  118  ;  his  valour  at 
Eausse,  119  ;  agrees  to  Peace 
of  Bergerac,  126  ;  visited  by 
the  Queen-Mother,  128  ;  en- 
gages in  a  futile  war,  129  ; 
storms  Cahors,  130;  concludes 
Peace  of  Fleix,  132  ;  quarrels 
with  his  wife,  133  ;  wishes  to 
marry  the  Countess  of  Gram- 
mont,  135  ;  rejects  the  offers 
of  Philip  II.,  137  ;  invited  to 
Court  by  Henry  III.,  138  ; 
offers  to  help  the  King  against 
the  League,  145  ;  his  stirring 
letters,  151  ;  his  manifesto, 
152  ;  answer  to  Papal  excom- 
munication, 153  ;  wins  battle 
of  Coutras,  155  ;  his  troubles 
in    1587-8,    173;    grieves    for 


Conde,  175  ;  rejoices  at  the 
death  of  Guise,  176  :  con- 
venient illness,  ih.  ;  his  inter- 
view with  Henry  III.  and 
appearance,  179  ;  his  acces-,. 
sion,  183  ;  his  title  to  the  I 
throne  based  on  indefeasible  \ 
hereditary  right,  184;  reply  trr"^ 
demands  of  Catholic  courtiers, 
186  ;  recognised  by  a  large 
part  of  the  army  and  by  the 
Swiss,  187  ;  his  army  melts 
away,  188  ;  his  opponents 
divided,  190  ;  his  difficulties 
192  et  seq.  ;  retires  into  Nor- 
mandy, 195  ;  refuses  to  buy 
Elizabeth's  help  by  surrender 
of  Calais,  196  ;  takes  up  a 
strong  position  before  Dieppe, 
197  ;  defeats  Mayenne,  199  ; 
recognised  by  Venetian  Senate, 
202  ;  attacks  suburbs  of  Paris, 
ib.  ;  marches  to  the  west,  203  ; 
attacks  the  towns  around  Paris, 
206  ;  defeats  Mayenne  at  Ivry, 
209  et  seq.  ;  prevented  from 
advancing  on  Paris  by  Biron, 
212  ;  general  desire  forhis 
CQji^versiqn,  213  ;  hig-rffTnleel- 
ings  m  regard  to  this,  214 ; 
determines  to  blockade  Paris, 
216  ;  advised  by  Biron  to  raise 
the  siege  and  meet  Parma, 
221  ;  who  eludes  him,  222  ; 
his  army  disperses,  222  ;  dis- 
content and  intrigues  among 
his  supporters,  225  <V  seq.  \ 
quarrels  with  Corisande,  228  ; 
having  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Gabrielle  d'Estrees, 
229  ;  promises  to  "  receive  in- 
struction "  and  confirms  the 
edicts  protecting  the  Hugue- 
nots, 232  ;  collects  a  Protestant 
army,  233  ;  with  which  he 
besieges  Rouen,  236  ;  meets 
Parma  at  Aumale  and  is 
wounded,  240  ;  his  energy, 
241  ;    continues    the    siege   of 


Index, 


471 


Rouen  on  Parma's  retreat, 
242  ;  obliged  to  raise  the  siege 
by  Parma,  ib.  ;  baffled  Ijy  ill 
will  of  Biron  and  skill  of 
Parma,  244  ;  obliged  to  dis- 
band his  army,  246  ;  an- 
nounces to  envoys  of  the  Es- 
tates that  he  will  "  receive  in- 
struction within  two  months," 
254  ;  his  conversioi:^  256 
et  seq.  ;  ehegts  ot  his  con- 
version, ^tfS;  attftwjTfs against 
'ms  lite,  267  ;  the  Pope  will  not 
absolve  him,  268  ;  he  grants 
very  favourable  terms  to  rebels, 
270  et  seq.  ;  importance  of 
coronation  ceremony,  272  ; 
coronation  at  Chartres,  274  ; 
negotiates  surrender  of  Paris, 
276  ;  pays  Bri^^sac  liberally  for 
opening  the  gates,  279  ;  enters 
Paris,  281  ;  his  clemency,  287; 
makes  Guise  Governor  of 
Provence,  288  ;  determines  to 
attack  Spain,  290 ;  his  at- 
tempted assassination  by 
Jacques  Clement,  295  ;  ban- 
ishes the  Jesuits,  ib.  ;  rebukes 
the  delays  of  Parliament  and 
Chambre  des  Comtes,  298  ; 
joins  Biron  in  Burgundy,  300  ; 
wins  skirmish  of  Fontaine 
Fran^aise,  301 ;  hurries  north 
on  hearing  of  siege  of  Cambray, 
304  ;  besieges  La  Fere,  305  ; 
absolved  by  Clement  VIII. , 
306  ;  his  policy  of  conciliation 
not  unsuccessful,  309  ;  his  des- 
titution, 310;  unable  to  save 
Calais,  311  ;  takes  La  Fere, 
312  ;  treaty  with  Elizabeth 
and  Dutch,  313  ;  summons  an 
Assembly  of  Notables,  314  ; 
his  frank  eloquence,  316 ;  hears 
of  the  surprise  of  Amiens,  318; 
begs  for  supplies,  319  ,"  defeats 
Archduke  Albert's  attempt  to 
relieve  Amiens,  322  ;  refuses 
to  abandon  his  allies,  325  ;  yet 


opens  negotiations  with  Spain, 
326  ;  and  concludes  peace  (of 
Vcrvins),  327  ;  grants  favour- 
able terms  to  Mercoeur,  328  ; 
secures  toleration  and  civil 
rights  to  the  Huguenots  by  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  329  et  seq.  ; 
insists  that  the  Edict  shall  not 
be  a  dead  letter,  338  et  seq.  ; 
continues  to  watch  over  the 
interests  of  the  Protestants, 
342  et  seq.  ;  endeavours  to  re- 
form the  finances,  347  ;  the 
public  distress  and  its  causes, 
350  et  seq.  ;  he  fosters  manu- 
factures in  opposition  to  Sully, 
354  ;  also  maritime  and  colonial 
enterprise,  356  et  seq.;  inter- 
ested in  agriculture,  358  ;  re- 
organises the  army,  364  ;  par- 
dons 7,000  gentlemen  for  kill- 
ing their  adversaries  in  duels, 
369  ;  did  more  for  the  material 
welfare  than  for  the  intellectual 
and  moral  progress  of  his  sub- 
jects, 371  et  seq.  ;  careless  of 
literature,  373  ;  a  greater  pa- 
tron of  painting  and  sculpture, 
375  ;  coarseness  of  manners  at 
his  Court,  376  ;  anxiety  about 
his  life,  378  ;  his  growing  de- 
votion to  Gabrielle  d'Estrees, 
379  ;  wishes  to  marry  her,  382, 
this  marriage  unpopular,  385  ; 
his  grief  at  Gabrielle's  death, 
387  ;  resigns  himself  to  marry 
Mary  de'  Medici,  388  ;  but 
falls  in  love  with  Henriette 
d'Entragues,  389  et  ,seq.; 
meets  his  wife  at  Lyons,  394  ; 
introduces  mistress  and  wife, 
396  ;  ])leased  by  birth  of  a 
Dauphin,  397  ;  rapid  successes 
against  Savoy,  400  ;  his  gen- 
erous treatment  of  Biron,  401; 
who  confesses  something  of 
his  intrigues  with  the  Duke  of 
Savoy,  402  ;  and  is  sent  to 
England,  404  ;    he  takes  pre- 


472 


Index. 


Henry  IV. — {Continued.') 
cautions  against  the  con- 
spiracy, 405  ;  and  surrimons 
Biron  to  Fontainebleau,  406  ; 
would  have  pardoned  him  even 
at  the  last,  ib.  ;  determines  to 
readmit  the  Jesuits,  41 1  ;  waits 
for  a  favourable  opportunity  to 
attack  Spain  and  Austria,  413; 
negotiations  with  James  I., 
414  ;  and  the  Turks,  416  ; 
mediates  between  Paul  V.  and 
Venice,  416  ;  discovers  con- 
spiracy of  the  Entragues  with 
Spain,  419  ;  tries  to  break  with 
Henriette,  420  ;  but  can  not 
and  therefiire  pardons  her 
father  anfl  brother,  421  ;  com- 
pels Bouillon  to  surrender 
Sedan,  423  ;  helps  the  Dutch 
to  negotiate  a  peace  with 
Spain,  424  ;  rejects  overtures 
for  marriage  treaty  with  Spain, 
425  ;  and  determined  to  inter- 
fere in  atTairs  of  Juliers-Cleves, 

432  ;  hopes  for  alliance  of 
England  and    Italian   powers, 

433  ;  aspires  to  rule  wherever 
French  is  spoken,  434  ;  disap- 
pointed by  backwardness  of 
his  allies,  435  ;  merited  un- 
happiness  of  his  private  life, 
436  ;  falls  in  love  with  Char- 
lotte de  Montmorency,  437  ; 
marries  her  to  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  439  ;  follows  her  in 
disguise,  440  ;  indignant  that 
Conde  should  carry  her  out  of 
the  country,  441  ;  threatens 
the  Archdukes  with  war  unless 
they  give  up  the  Princess,  444; 
the  threat  not  seriously  meant, 
445  ;  angry  interview  with  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  ib.  ;  pre- 
pares to  open  the  campaign 
with  overwhelming  forces,  447; 
yet  unusually  anxious,  448 ; 
opposition  to  his  policy  by  the 
Queen  and    his    Catholic  ad- 


visers, 449  ;  tries  to  propitiate 
the  Queen  by  allowing  her  to 
be  crowned,  450  ;  gloomy  fore- 
bodings, 452  ;  his  assassina- 
tion, 453  ;  his  character,  458 
et  seq. 

Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  415, 
446 

Holland,  see  Dutch 

Hugh  Capet,  273 

Huguenots,  see  Protestants 

Hulst,  312 

Humieres,  112 


Ibarra,  280,  283 

Isabella  the  Infanta,  253  et  seq.; 

310,  324,  399,  442  et  seq. 
Ivry,  battle  of,  208,  331 

J 

Jane  of  Albret,  Queen  of  Na- 
varre, presents  her  son  to  the 
army,  43  ;  married  to  Antony 
of  Bourbon,  48  ;  death  of  her 
children,  ib.  ;  hurries  to  Pau 
for  the  birth  of  her  son  Henry, 
49  ;  slowly  converted  but  faith- 
ful to  Protestantism,  51  ;  edu- 
cates her  son,  55  ;  comes  to 
Court  to  arrange  his  marriage, 
64  ;  her  opinion  of  Margaret 
of  Valois,  65  ;  fears  for  her 
son,  66  ;  her  death,  69  ;  zeal 
for  learning,  373 

James  I.  of  England,  414,  433, 

435.  446 
Jarnac,  battle  of,  42 
"jeannin,  121,  205,  235,  283,  424, 

427,  432,  440,  444,  44Q 
Jesuits,  138,  143,   267,  284,   292 

et  seq.  ;    305,    345,   410,   424, 

429,  449,  455 
Joan  of  Arc,  273 
John  Casimir,  Count    Palatine, 

no,  158 
Joyeuse,  Duke  of,  140,  145,  155 
Joyeuse,  Cardinal,  450 


Index. 


473 


La  Charite,  59 

La  Fere,  286,  305,  311,  312 

La  Fin,  401,  405,  409 

La  Force,  Marquis  of,  447,  452 

La  Gaucherie,  51,  54,  55 

Languedoc,    ig,    100,    102,   150, 

225,  286,  344 
La  Noue,  29,  117,  118,  120,  130, 

200,  212,  221,  223,  237,  271, 

374 

Laon,  286,  287 

La  Keole,  129 

La  Rochefoucauld,  Count  of,  42, 
69 

La  Rochelle,  26,  59,  62  ;  siege 
of,  97,  117,  130,  175 

La  Tremoille,  Duke  of  Thouars, 
150,  188,  212,  261,  335 

League,  The,  supplied  with  prin- 
ciples by  Protestant  writers, 
97  ;  neither  patriotic  nor  popu- 
lar, 104;  its  formation,  112; 
organisation  in  Paris,  142  ;  its 
manifesto,  143 ;  new  ultima- 
tum to  Henry  IIL.  162;  its 
unpopularity,  i6g  ;  atrocities  of 
its  defenders,  177,  213  ;  more 
and  more  Spanish,  180,  189; 
yet  not  all  Leaguers  subservi- 
ent to  Philip  II.,  204;  May- 
enne  dissolves  the  Council 
General,  205  ;  condemned  by 
Villeroy,  214  ;  its  army  anni- 
hilated at  Ivry,  216  ;  on  bad 
terms  with  Sixtus  V.,  225  ;  the 
extreme  party  wish  that  Philip 
II.  might  rule  over  them,  234 ; 
can  only  continue  to  exist  by 
his  assistance,  246 

Le  Fevre,  i 

Le  Mans,  107,  203,  216 

Leo  XI.,  415 

Leonora,  Dosi  or  Galigai,  374, 
422,  436,  451 

Leopold,  Archduke,  434,  451 

Le  Pollet,  198,  199 

Lepsius,  373 


Lerma,  Duke  of,  402 

Lesdiguieres,  286,  374,  400,  447 

L'tstoile,  89,  j:2I,  162,  193,  368 

Lewis  VI.,  274 

Lewis  X.,  273 

Lewis  XL,  276 

Lewis  XIV.,  266,  454 

L'Hopital,  31  et  seq. 

L'Huillier,  281 

Liancourt,  230 

Longpre,  322 

Longueville,  Duke  of,   195,  197, 

200,  299,  302 
Lorraine,  Duke  of,  144,  289 
Lorraine,    Claude,    Duchess    of, 

85,  145 
Louvre,  57,  166,  282,  368 
Lover's  War,  129 
Low  Countries,  see  Dutch. 
Loyola,  292 
Luther,  3 
Luxembourg,  297,  299 


M 


Machiavelli,  30,  64,  113 

Malesherbes,  castle  of,  389 

Malherbe,  377,  392,  440 

Marcoussis,  419 

Margaret  of  Angouleme,  3,  46,  47 

Margaret  of  Valois,  her  infant 
orthodoxy,  29  ;  negotiations  for 
her  marriage  to  King  of  Portu- 
gal, 61  ;  her  hand  offered  to 
Henry  of  Navarre,  62 ;  her 
character,  67  ;  marriage,  69 ; 
her  account  of  the  night  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  85  ;  a  friend  to 
her  husband,  88  ;  rejoins  him, 
128;  her  Court  at  Pau,  133; 
returns  to  her  mother,  181  ; 
insulted  by  Henry  III.,  ib.  ; 
a  prisoner  in  Auvergne,  379 ; 
agrees  to  a  divorce,  381  ;  writes 
to  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  385 

Mariana,  409 

Marmoustier,  274 

Marot,  II,  377 

Marseilles,  288,  357 


474 


Index. 


Mary  de'  Medici,  her  birth,  388 
married  by  proxy  to  Henry  IV. 

392  ;    her   journey   to    Lyons 

393  ;  appearance  and  character 

394  ;  her  favourites,  ih.  ;  com 
plains  of  the  pretensions  of 
Henriette  d'Entragues,  418  ; 
less  jealous  of  three  rivals  than 
of  one,  422  ;  desires  alliance 
with  Spain,  435  ;  her  children, 
436  ;  appointed  Regent  during 
the  King's  absence,  430  ;  sus- 
pected of  being  privy  to  her 
husband's  murder,  454 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  16,  143 

Matthias,  Archduke,  430 

Maurevert,  90 

Maximilian  II.,  429 

Mayenne,  Charles  of  Lonaine, 
Duke  of,  90,  141  ;  recognised 
as  head  of  the  League,  173  ; 
subservient  to  Philip  II.,  180  ; 
jealous  of  his  nephew,  Guise, 
190 ;  his  character,  191  ;  de- 
feated at  Arques,  199  ;  negoti- 
ates with  Philip  II.,  204;  ap- 
points a  Council  of  State,  205  ; 
flight  at  Ivry,  212  ;  humiliated 
by  Parma,  222  ;  summons  the 
States-General,  234;  wishes  to 
prevent  the  marriage  of  Guise 
and  the  Infanta  Isabella,  235  ; 
Urged  by  Jeannin  to  come  to 
terms  with  the  King,  ib.  ;  joins 
Parma  to  relieve  Rouen,  240  ; 
which  he  hopes  to  hold  without 
Spanish  help,  241  ;  but  is  mis- 
taken, 242  ;  ousts  the  "  Six- 
teen," 248  ;  his  unpopularity, 
249  ;  summons  the  States-Gen- 
eral to  Paris,  250  ;  takes  Noy- 
on,  255  ;  accepts  an  armistice, 
but  sends  his  son-in-law  to 
Madrid,  268  ;  re-establishes  the 
Council  of  Sixteen,  277  ;  leaves 
Paris,  278  ;  pertinacious  in  dis- 
loyalty, 289  ;  joins  the  Consta- 
ble of  Castile  in  Franche- 
Comte,  300  ;  retires  to  Chalons, 


302  ;  submits  to  the  King,  307, 
his  character,  308  ;  before 
Amiens,  309  ;  where  he  does 
good  service,  323  ;  appointed 
a  member  of  the  Council  of 
Regency,  451 

Meaux,  270 

Mendoza,  139,  141,  180,  216, 
241 

Mercoeur,    Duke    of,    224,    289, 

327 
Meulan,  206 
Miossans,  Mme.  de,  49 
Monluc,  29,  304 
Montauban,  61,  97 
Montbazon,  Duke  of,  447,  452 
Montcontour,  battle  of,  57 
Montgomery,  Count  of,   15,   83, 

99,  100 
Montmorency,  Constable,  4,  16, 

21,  25,  61 
Montmorency,  Duke  of,  99,  100, 

109,    126,   146,   150,  225,  309, 

317,  403,  405,  443 
Montpensier,    Duchess    of,    162, 

182,  218,  283,  284 
Montpensier,  Duke  of,  210,  312 
Moriscos,  415,  434,  447 
Mornay,  see  Du  Plessis. 

N 

Nangay,  M.  de,  86 
Naples,  433 
Napoleon,  45,  156,  454 
Nassau,  94  ;  see  Orange. 
Navarre,  kingdom  of,  45 
Nemours,  Duke  of,  210 
Nemours,  Duchess  of,  284,  396 
Nerac,  51,   52,  55,  133,  379 
Neuburg,  Count  Palatine  of,  431 
Nevers,  Duke  of,  77,  268,  303 
Nimes,  105 
Normandy,    20,    180,    203,    236, 

344 
Noyon,  255 

O 

Orange,  William,  Prince  of,  74, 
94,  120 


Index. 


475 


Orange,  Maurice,  Prince  of ,  195, 

224,  415.  424.  447 
Orange,  Princess  of,  387 
Ostend,  415,  423 


Palissy,  Bernard,  84 

Fare,  Ambrose,  79 

Paris,  centre  of  orthodoxy,  28 
its  religious  houses  there,  ib 
ferocity  of  inhabitants,  83  , 
the  barricades,  165  ;  expels 
Henry  III.,  166  ;  grief  for 
death  of  Guise,  172  ;  besieged 
by  Henry  III.,  181  ;  rejoicings 
at  his  murder,  182  ;  suburbs 
attacked  by  Henry  IV.,  203  ; 
blockaded  after  Ivry,  217  ;  re- 
liance on  Philip  II.,  217  ; 
famine,  218  ;  peace  or  bread, 
219  ;  relieved  by  Parma,  222  ; 
garrisoned  by  Spaniards,  224  ; 
famine  again,  234  ;  detestation 
of  the  League,  236  ;  the  Six- 
teen attempt  a  reign  of  terror 
in  Paris,  248  ;  Moderates  in- 
sist on  negotiations,  249  ;  sur- 
render only  prevented  by 
Spaniards,  277  ;  terms  of  sur- 
render, 279  ;  changes  hands 
peaceably,  280  ;  filthy  squalor 
of  the  streets,  365  ;  improved 
by  Henry  IV.,  366  et  seq. 

Parliament  of  Paris,  hesitates  to 
punish  heretics,  15  ;  hostile  to 
the  Reformers,  24 ;  opposes 
the  League,  154  ;  declares  the 
Salic  law  inviolable,  255  ;  an- 
nuls everything  done  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  Crown,  285  ; 
scolded  by  Henry  IV. ,  298  ; 
remonstrates  against  lenient 
treatment  of  Mayenne,  307  ; 
compelled  by  the  King  to  reg- 
ister the  Edict  of  Nantes,  339  ; 
effect  on  it  of  system  of  pur- 


chase, 362  ;  sentences  Biron, 
407  ;  protests  against  the  re- 
turn of  the  Jesuits,  411 

Parliament,  Protestant  judges  in, 
338 

Parma,  see  Famese. 

Pau,  49,  52,  57  ;  Court  of,  133 

Paul  v.,  416,  433.  435.  447 

Pazzi,  393 

Petrucci,  61 

Philip  II.,  enemy  of  the  House 
of  Guise,  16  ;  proposed  as  hus- 
band to  Jane  of  Albret,  47  ; 
would  have  liked  to  burn  her, 
54  ;  expects  a  high  price  for 
helping  French  Catholics,  58  ; 
common  enemy  of  Protestant- 
ism, 71  ;  overtures  to  Henry 
of  Navarre,  137  ;  allies  himself 
with  the  Guises,  142  ;  claim 
of  his  daughter  to  French 
Crown,  146  ;  promises  to  help 
the  League,  189;  expects  the 
title  of  the  Infanta  Isabella  to 
be  recognised,  205,  234  ;  more 
ready  to  send  men  than  money 
to  France,  214;  neglects 
Netherlands  for  France,  224  ; 
sends  4,000  men  to  Brittany, 
234 ;  cruel  treatment  of  La 
None,  237  ;  determines  to  send 
Parma  to  impose  his  will  on 
the  Estates  at  Paris,  250  ;  in- 
structions to  Feria,  254  ;  treats 
with  Epernon,  286  ;  every- 
where active  against  Henry 
IV.,  289  ;  not  to  be  bearded 
with  impunity,  291  ;  ally  of 
the  Jesuits,  292  ;  sends  great 
reinforcements  to  the  Low 
Countries,  303  ;  quarrels  with 
the  Jesuits,  305  ;  formidable 
though  bankrupt,  310  ;  wishes 
to  leave  peace  to  his  succes- 
sors, 324 

Philip  III.,  402,  419,  425,    427, 

433,  446,  447 
Picardy,  303 
Pignerol,  102 


4/6 


Index. 


Place  Royale,  367 
Poirson,  372 
Poissy,  206 
Poitou,  344 

Politicians  (Moderate  party),  61, 
72,    99,    116,    153,    180,    249, 

315 

Portocarrero,  317,  322 

Protestants, in  France,  opponents 
of  despotism,  8  ;  organised  by- 
Calvin,  9  ;  sufferings  under 
Francis  I.  and  Henry  II.,  10 
ft  seq.  ;  their  organisation  and 
nuini>ers,  1  3  ;  of  all  ranks,  14  ; 
rejoice  at  death  of  Henry  II., 
16;  called  Huguenots,  ig ; 
conspire  against  the  Guises, 
20  ;  their  policy  at  Estates  of 
1 561,  22;  their  numbers  at 
beginning  of  religious  wars, 
25  ;  unequally  distributed  26  ; 
believed  to  be  in  the  ascend- 
ant, 29  ;  attacked  by  the  mob 
and  refused  justice  in  the 
courts,  33  ;  challenged  by  the 
Guises,  35  ;  were  they  right  to 
begin  the  war?  37;  their 
strength  and  weakness,  39  et 
seq.  ;  effect  on  the  Protestant 
cause  of  the  first  eight  years  of 
war,  60  ;  close  connection  of 
their  fortunes  with  those  of 
Protestants  elsewhere,  71  ; 
massacred  unresistingly,  82  ;  j 
a  more  popular  party  after  St.  I 
Bartholomew's  day,  96  ;  en- 
couraged by  successful  resist-  ( 
ance  of  La  Rochelle,  98  ;  as- 
sisted by  Politicians,  99  ;  form  i 
a  confederation  with  them  in  , 
Languedoc,  102  ;  more  and 
more  confined  to  certain  prov-  ' 
inces,  103 ;  obtain  favourable 
terms  by  the  Peace  of  "  Mon- 
sieur," 109 ;  consequent  re- 
action, III,  113;  hold  aloof  ; 
from  the  States-General  of  ! 
1576,  116;  obtained  reason- 
able  terms   in    the    Peace    of 


Bergerac,  127 ;  the  League 
excite  the  people  against  her- 
esy, 143  ;  Edict  of  Toleration 
revoked  (1586),  148;  prospects 
of  the  Huguenots  in  the  strug- 
gle, r49  ft  si'q.  ;  joint  mani- 
festo of  Protestants  and  Poli- 
ticians, 152  ;  assembly  at  La 
Rochelle,  175;  treaty  with  the 
Royalists,  177  ;  their  policy, 
183  ;  TTueuenot  valour,  decis- 
ive at  Arques,  200  ;  careless  of 
constitutional  reforms,  315  ; 
the  discontented  majority  re- 
fuse to  help  the  King  to  retake 
.Amiens,  321  ;  their  grievances 
against  the  King  unfounded, 
330  et  seq.  ;  he  did  all  that  he 
could  for  them  by  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  337  ;  their  organisa- 
tion and  power,  343  ;  their 
distribution,  numbers,  and  un- 
popularity, 344  et  seq.  ;  refuse 
to  support  Bouillon  against 
the  King,  422  ;  popular  feel- 
ing excited  against  them,  449 

Provence,  27,  286,  288,  344 

Provins,  223,  356 

Pyrenees,  45. 


Quebec,  358 
Quercy,   130 


R 


Rabelais,  377 

Ravaillac,  455  et  seq. 

Renee  of  France,  Duchess  of 
Ferrara,  11 

Rheims,  205,  234,  273 

Richelieu,  265 

Ronsard,  gi,  377 

Rose,  Bishop  of  Senlis,  255 

Rosne,  Marshal  de,  311,  312 

Rosny,  Maximilian  de  Bethune, 
Baron  of  (Duke  of  Sully),  his 
education  and  character,  122, 


Index. 


477 


cf.  348  ;  reputation,  125  ; 
advises  Henry  IV.  to  conform, 
258  ;  ncfjotiates  surrender  of 
Rouen,  276  ;  vainly  attempts 
financial  reforms,  309 ;  finds 
funds  necessary  for  siege  of 
Amiens,  320  ;  reorganises  the 
finances,  348  ;  his  dignities 
and  rewards,  349  ;  exposes 
peculation,  350  ;  not  a  revolu- 
tionist, 352  ;  improves  roads 
and  plans  canals,  353  ;  a  free- 
trader, 354  ;  believes  in  sumpt- 
uary laws,  355  ;  improves  in- 
cidence of  tallage,  358  ;  tries 
to  make  publicans  disgorge, 
360  ;  systematises  the  sale  of 
legal  appointments,  362  ;  finan- 
cial result  achieved,  363  ;  his 
memoirs  not  to  be  trusted,  383  ; 
hated  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  ib.  ; 
fails  to  induce  Biron  to  confess, 
406  ;  opposes  the  readmission 
of  the  Jesuits,  411  ;  the  inven- 
tor of  the  "  Grand  Design," 
412  ;  sent  as  ambassador  to 
James  I.,  414  ;  his  good  ad- 
vice after  flight  of  Conde,  441 

Roucy,  Count  of,  374 

Rouen,  26,  62,  173,  203,  234, 
236,  238  (siege  of),  241  et  seq., 
275.  3^5.  338,  356 

Rudolf,  Emperor,  429 


Sadolet,  11 
Saluzzo,  399 
Sancy,  187,  290,  383 
Saumur,  108,  177 
Sauves,  Madame  de,  128 
Savoy,  Charles  Emmanuel,  Duke 
of,  102,  225,  364,  399  et  seq., 

417,  433,  435 
Saxony,  430 
Scaliger,  Joseph,   56,   348,   358, 

372 
Schomberg,  Count  of,  207 
Schomberg,  Count  of  Nanteuil, 

334 


Sebastian  of  Portugal,  61 

Sedan,  409,  423 

Segur,  459 

Senlis,  107 

Serres,  Olivier  de,  358 

Sforza,  Francis,  276 

"  Sixteen,"  the,   162,   234,  248, 

277 

Sixtus  v.,  153,  225 

Smith,  Adam,  359 

Spinola,  415,  423,  442,  451 

Soissons,  Charles  of  Bourbon, 
Count  of,  125,  156,  387 

Sorbonne,  see  University  of 
Paris 

Stafford,  Sir  E.,  161 

States-General  of  1561,  22;  of 
1576,  116,  126;  of  1588.  168; 
abortive  meeting  at  Rheims, 
234;  of  1593,  251,  269;  un- 
popularity  of   States-General, 

314 
St.  Andre,  Marshal,  25,  33,  41 
St.    Bartholomew^   massacre   of, 

78  et  seq.  ;  account  given  by 

French  Court,  93 
St.    Denis,    battle   of,    41,    218, 

264,  451 
St.  Germains,  Peace  of,  59 
St.  Germains,  Palace  of,  368 
St.  Jean  d'Angeli,  siege  of,  57 
St.  Luc,  278 

St.  Pol,  Count  of,  303,  311,  317 
Sully,  see  Rosny 
Suresne,  254 
Swiss,   155,   180,  208,  211,  227. 

236,  245,  302 


Tassis,  241 
Tavannes,  74,  77 
Teligny,  73,  76 
Thouars,  Duchess  of,  397 
Thouars,  Duke  of,  see  La  Tre. 

moille 
Toledo,  Don  Pedro  of,  426 
Toleto,  Cardinal,  269,  305 
Touchet,  Marie,  389 


478 


Index. 


Toulouse,  27,  131,  173,  225,  286  ; 
Parliament  of,  341 

Tournon,  Cardinal,  il 

Tours,  285 

Trent,  Council  of,  26g,  416 

Turenne,  Viscount  of,  Duke  of 
Bouillon,  128,  150,  212,  221, 
233,  236,  261,  290,  297,  299, 
303.  335.  369.  376,  402,  403, 
409 

Tuscany,  Grand  Duke  of,  310, 
388 

U 

University  of  Paris,  the  judge  of 
orthodoxy,  2,  3,  6  ;  declares 
that  incompetent  princes  may 
be  deposed,  162  ;  that  Henry 
III.  has  forfeited  the  Crown, 
172  ;  that  Henry  IV.  is  in- 
capable of  reigning  even 
though  absolved  by  the  Pope, 
217;  nostudents,  224  ;  recants, 
285  ;  quarrel  with  the  Jesuits, 
293  ;  reformed,  372 

Usson,  castle  of,  380 


Vassy,  massacre  of,  34 


Velasco,  Don    Fernan  de,  299  ei 

seq. 
Vendome,  Cardinal  of,  138 
Vendome,  Csesar,  Duke  of,   297, 

308,  328,  382 
Vendome,  Charles,  Count  of,  44 
Venice,   202,  305,  416,  433,  435. 

447 
Vere,  Sir  Francis,  415 
Verneuil,     Marchioness    of,    see 

Henriette 
Vervins,  Peace  of,  327,  399,  412 
Vielleville,  Marshal,  41 
Villars,   238,  241,  270,  275,  303, 

304 
Villeroy,    121,     189,     194,     205, 

213,  221,  235,  252,  266,  383, 

417,  440,  449 
Vitry,  270 

W 

Walsingham,    61,    71,    74,    120, 

233 
Wurtemberg,  Christopher,  Duke 

of,  34 


Zamet,  386 

Zwingli,  4 


2  7  S  4      5 


•ms 


n 


J 


r\1 


L  005  108  557  9 


i}JC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000  853  020    6 


